


L O S T

by Candy_Kittens



Category: Captain America (Movies), Lost, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky is protective over Claire Charlie and Aaron, F/M, M/M, Oceanic Flight 815, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Plane Crash, Polar Bears - Freeform, Smoke Monster, Steve and Bucky thrown into the TV show LOST, Stucky LOST au, The Author Regrets Nothing, The Others - Freeform, The island - Freeform, covers season 1 to 6, he'd die protecting them, mystery friggen Island, spoilers for LOST present throughout
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2020-06-29 09:20:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19827148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candy_Kittens/pseuds/Candy_Kittens
Summary: Based on the TV show, LOST. Covers all 6 seasons, so spoilers will be present throughoutSteve Rogers and Bucky Barnes - Captain America and the Winter Soldier themselves - had gone on holiday around New Zealand and Australia. Taking a much needed break from the rest of the Avengers.But as they're on their way back to the States, flying by Oceanic Flight 815 from Sydney to Los Angeles, the plane had steered over a thousand miles off course, before crashing onto a mysterious island. An island inhabited by a strange smoke-like monster, and where polar bears roam the the jungle.Steve, Bucky, and the rest of the survivors from Oceanic 815 are forced to learn how to survive on this island until rescue comes. Unfortunately for the castaways, rescue doesn't come as soon as they'd like it to, and they learn that they're not the only people on the island.SLOW UPDATES





	1. L O S T

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is something that I've been wanting to write for a _very_ long time, and now I'm doing it!
> 
> It's a Stucky fic where Steve and Bucky are thrown into the TV show, LOST, and it's going to cover all six seasons of LOST. Though unlike the TV show, this is is set in 2018ish, not 2004, just so it fits in with the MCU. - **EDIT; _actually, I've changed my mind. It's not going to be set in 2018ish to fit in with the MCU, it's going to be set in 2004 just as LOST is. The MCU timeline will just have to be severely fucked around with. But I won't really be mentioning dates until we get to season 5 when the time travel plot gets going._ **
> 
> There are spoilers for LOST present throughout this, so I maybe suggest you don't read this if you haven't watched LOST, but it's entirely up to you. Though I really do suggest watching LOST just to get the full story of what's going on, since this is only in Steve and Bucky's POV. Otherwise trust me, you'll get a little confused. But feel free to ask if you're ever confused on anything.
> 
> Also, much like LOST, there'll be flashback, flashforward, and flashsideway scenes. Still trying to figure out how to incorporate the flashforward and flashsideway scenes into the story though, but luckily they don't start until season 4 onwards _(and flashsideway scenes aren't until the last season)_ , so I've got some time until then.
> 
> BTW, each chapter covers either one full episode, or half an episode. _Or_ a chapter may cover two episodes. It all depends on what occurs in the episodes in the show and what I want to expand on in this with Bucky and Steve, or I just want to mention... if that makes any sense.
> 
> Anyway, updates will likely be rather slow, but I hope you all enjoy this!!

All of us have a secret...

One of us is a hero...

One of us is a fraud...

One of us is a junkie...

One of us is a cop...

One of us is a saint...

One of us is a sinner...

One of us is a martyr...

One of us is a murderer...

All of us are guilty...

All of us are LOST....


	2. SEASON ONE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just the divider thing for the start of season one, and a cast list. Don't know if every one on the off-Island cast list will appear in the first season, and if they don't, I'll just remove their name from the list once season one is complete.
> 
> Also, Evangeline Lilly is in _both_ LOST and Marvel, and you can bet Bucky's going to make a comment on how Kate looks like someone he knows. Cause in this, both Steve and Bucky would've met the Wasp at some point.

** **

** Cast ****o** **n the ** ** Island **

Sebastian Stan as James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes  
The Winter Soldier

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers  
Captain America

Matthew Fox as Jack Shephard

Evangeline Lilly as Kate Austen

Josh Holloway as "Sawyer" James Ford

Terry O'Quinn as John Locke

Ian Somerhalder as Boone Carlyle

Maggie Grace as Shannon Rutherford

Naveen Andrews as Sayid Jarrah

Dominic Monaghan as Charlie Pace

Jorge Garcia as Hugo "Hurley" Reyes

Emilie de Ravin as Claire Littleton

Daniel Dae Kim as Jin-Soo Kwon

Yunjin Kim as Sun-Hwa Kwon

Harold Perrineau as Michael Dawson

Malcolm David Kelley as Walt Lloyd

L. Scott Caldwell as Rose Nadler

Yellow Labrador as Vincent _(Walt's dog)_

William Mapother as Ethan Rom

Mira Furlan as Danielle Rousseau

**Cast off the Island** _ **(** _ _ **a.k.** _ _ **a** _ _ **. the** _ _ **Avengers** _ _ **)** _

Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson  
The Falcon

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark  
Iron Man

Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanov  
Black Widow

Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton  
Hawkeye

Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff  
Scarlet Witch

Chris Hemsworth  
Thor

Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner  
Hulk

Don Cheadle as James "Rhodey" Rhodes  
War Machine

Paul Bettany as Vision

Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts

Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa  
Black Panther

Letitia Wright as Shuri

Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia

Danai Gurira as Okoye

Paul Rudd as Scott Lang  
Ant-Man

Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne  
The Wasp

Tom Holland as Peter Parker  
Spider-Man

Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan

Tom Hiddleston as Loki

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury

Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill

Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Stephen Strange


	3. 00 // Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not entirely sure, but season one may be the only one with a prologue.

"You ready to go back?" Steve asks, looking over at Bucky, who sits next to him reading some new book that he had picked up from the bookstore yesterday.

The pair of them had taken a six month long holiday round New Zealand and Australia, away from the rest of the Avengers. It was definitely something that the pair of them needed, and the both of them are just glad that they didn't have to cut their holiday short at all.

Sometimes, they just need a break from being Captain America and the Winter Soldier, and just need time to be themselves. They needed the time to just be Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes.

But now, their holiday has come to an end, and they're flying Oceanic Flight 815 from Sydney to Los Angeles. Though, they aren't going straight back to the Avengers compound just yet. They're having a short one week stay in Los Angeles before they go back.

Back to being Captain America and the Winter Soldier, fighting alongside the rest of the Avengers.

They have to admit, that they're upset that their holiday has come to an end, but at the same time they're happy about seeing the others once again. Though, they just hope nothing too terrible has occurred while they've been gone. That's the last thing that they need.

"What?" Bucky asks, looking over at Steve from his book.

Bucky was barely paying any attention to what Steve had just said. Too immersed in the book that he's reading to hear what Steve had just asked him.

"I asked if you're ready to go back home." Steve says.

Bucky nods, sighing a little. "I have missed the others." He starts. "But, we can never truly go back _home_ , Stevie." He sighs. "But, to answer your question, yes. I'm ready to go back."

Steve nods, knowing exactly what Bucky had meant by the pair of them not truly being able to go back home. They haven't been _home_ since before the war, and before Steve had taken the serum. They haven't properly been home in over seventy years now.

"Hopefully the others have been fine without us." Steve sighs. "We have been gone for quite awhile after all."

Bucky nods. "Well, none of them tried to contact us, so I'm sure they were fine without us." He says. "Now be quiet. The Fellowship just set out from Rivendell."

Steve laughs a little at that. He hasn't forgotten that Bucky never likes to be interrupted when he's reading, and he's not surprised that has never changed since before the war. He may not look it, but Bucky is definitely a big bookworm, and a huge nerd.

Sitting back on the seat, Steve closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep, though every so often he's woken by the noise around him. He blames the super soldier serum for not letting him have one sleep where he doesn't continuously wake up every couple minutes or so from the slightest noise that disrupts his sleep. Though, it's not as bad as it used to be, and _some_ nights he manages to sleep through most of the night.

Looking over at Bucky as he's awoken again about half an hour later, at least he thinks it's been half an hour, he finds that Bucky has fallen asleep.

Smiling a little, Steve places a kiss on Bucky's forehead, trying not to wake him, before he's slipping Bucky's book and bookmark out of his hands and placing them in Bucky's carry on bag in the above compartment. Of course, making sure he doesn't lose the page that he suspects that Bucky was on.

Needing to go to the bathroom, Steve goes to head over to the bathroom, but stops as a young guy runs past him, with a couple of flight attendants running after him.

He looks on after them, curious about what all that was supposed to be about and debating whether or not to follow just in case they need help. In the end decides against it and heads off towards the bathroom.

As he's waiting for whoever is in the bathroom to finish up so he can go, he's almost knocked to the floor as the plane jolts suddenly. He shrugs it off as the plane is just going through turbulence. Which is normal, planes go through that plenty of times and nothing bad happens.

_"Ladies and gentlemen, the pilot has switched on the fasten seatbelt sign. Please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts."_ A woman's voice can be heard on the overhead speaker.

Steve looks up at the roof of the plane, where he knows the voice isn't coming from, but is just something he does out of instinct. He goes to head back over to his seat next to Bucky, forgetting about his need to go to the bathroom. Unfortunately before he can do so, the plane shakes again.

Knowing that he should get back to Bucky, but it seems as though he can't as the plane goes through heavier turbulence, Steve sits down on one of the empty seats near him and fastens his seat belt. He just hopes this set of turbulence passes over soon so he can get back to Bucky.

Though, as the plane starts shaking more and a loud crash is heard, and what he can only assume is engine failure, Steve realizes that he may not get back to Bucky. _At all..._

Trying his best to ignore the panic that is arising inside him, and the flashbacks from when he crashed the plane into the ice back in 1945, Steve grabs the oxygen mask that drops down in front of him and tries to prepare himself for the worst. Which ends up being easier said than done...

The only thing going through his mind, is that he should've stayed right next to Bucky. At least then they would die side by side....


	4. 01 // The Crash

**_Covers season 1 episode 1; Pilot pt. 1_ **

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Screaming_. People screaming and fire burning are the first things that Bucky wakes up to.

He barely even notices the pain in his leg and the small jolts of electricity shooting up his left side from his bionic prosthesis, as his eyes fly open.

Sitting up slowly as his eyes get used to the blinding sunlight, he looks around at his surroundings in confusion.

He's on a beach. _Why_ _am_ _I on a beach?_

That, he doesn't understand as only ten, maybe twenty minutes ago he was sitting on a plane with Steve flying back to America. He doesn't understand how the hell he got here. That is, until he looks over towards where most of the screaming is coming from.

There, not far from where he's sitting on the sand, is the plane's fuselage. Though, the tail section and the plane's cockpit, is nowhere to be seen.

Looking down at his leg as he only just notices the pain, he spots the piece of shrapnel sticking out of it. Pulling it out, he throws it to the side and stands up, almost losing his footing, but remains standing. He's had worse.

A piece of shrapnel in his leg is hardly going to do much damage to him. Especially not when the wound will just heal itself within a few hours. _Score one for the mock super soldier_ _serum_ _,_ _courtesy_ _of_ _Hydra_ _.._.

Though, he's going to have to do something about that damn arm. Hopefully the gears aren't too broken in it. He can move it just fine though, not so much feel anything with it but it's always been like that. Well, actually he _can_ feel with it more than what he used to, thanks to the Black Panther's younger sister, Shuri.

But just in case something's wrong with the arm (which, if there is, he suspects that if Shuri were here, she'd possibly complain about him managing to break her tech), he's going to have to do something about it. The electric shocks he's currently getting from it right now, aren't something that he really wants to have to deal with. It reminds him too much of Hydra, which is something he'd really like to forget about.

Limping a little, he makes his way closer to the wreckage where dead bodies are strewn across the sand along with injured men and women who're too weak to get up. The other survivors, the ones standing, are either helping the injured, or yelling for their loved ones.

As bad as it may sound, Bucky doesn't care about them right now. All he cares for right now, is finding Steve.

"Steve!" He yells, looking around frantically as he desperately tries to spot the one person in this world he really cares about.

He doesn't spot him anywhere. Not even among the dead, so that gives him a little hope that Steve is still alive.

Which he supposes is a good thing, but he's not going to consider it a good thing until he actually sees Steve alive. For all he knows, Steve could be dead in the water. Or what Bucky is hoping, is that he's helping the rest of the survivors to make it safe and away from the wreckage.

Ignoring the pain in his leg, Bucky begins running along the beach, trying to spot Steve anywhere among the wreckage just in case he missed him the first time. Though, he highly doubts that he had managed to miss him previously, he's always been good at spotting that moron anywhere.

"Do you have a pen?" A young dark haired guy asks, running up to him.

"A _pen_?" Bucky asks, confused on why the fuck this guy would want a pen of all things after having survived a plane crash.

The guy runs off soon after that, yelling out asking for if anyone's got a pen. Whatever that guy needs a pen for, Bucky hopes he manages to somehow find one.

Shaking his head, he goes off in search of Steve. He's got to be here somewhere... _Right_ _?_

**XXXX**

Later on during the day, Bucky just sits out on the sand away from the rest of the survivors. He couldn't find Steve anywhere, not even in the water, or anywhere through the trees behind him.

He's not looked inside the fuselage yet, and he's rather afraid to look in there. If Steve's in there, then he's likely to be dead, and Bucky's not so sure he wants to face that yet.

He also have completely check everywhere in the jungle yet, just the trees closest to the beach. He'll have to take a better look in the jungle once he's feeling a little better than he already is.

Though, there's no sign of the tail section of the plane on the beach, _or_ the front of the plane. Maybe somehow Steve ended up on the tail section or in the front of the plane? If that's the case, then he's more than likely met a worse fate than Bucky himself has.

But he feels as though he has met a much more worse fate than Steve possibly has. He survives, but Steve has died. Why should he have lived and Steve not? It still feels like they only _just_ got each other back, and then they've been pulled apart once again.

Looking over towards the rest of the survivors, Bucky sighs, before turning to look back out towards the ocean. Some of the survivors seem to still have their loved ones.

Keyword being _some_ _._ There's still plenty of them who've lost someone, and Bucky's amongst the ones who have lost someone.

Though if he's being honest, he doesn't quite feel in his heart that Steve is dead. There could be the chance that he's still alive somewhere, wherever the hell it may be that the plane has crashed to.

But if rescue comes before he can get back to Steve - _if_ he's still alive - then he's not leaving without Steve. He won't even leave without bringing Steve's dead body home. There's no possible way that he'd leave Steve behind, dead or alive.

Pulling his knees up to his chest, he wraps his arms around himself, resting his forehead on his knees. He doesn't care about the tears that begin to slip down his face, staining his jeans with small wet spots. He's just been in a plane crash for Christ's sake, _and_ it seems as though he's lost Steve, so he damn well has the right to shed some tears and he doesn't give a fuck who sees them.

Though, he _really_ doesn't think that any of the others will even think of coming near him. He has no doubts that they know who he is - and _was_ \- and what he had done.

He has to admit though, he doesn't mind that strangers don't just come up to him asking for autographs like they do with Steve and the other Avengers. He doesn't really consider himself a people person after all.

Speaking of the others, what will they do when they hear that the plane that he and Steve were returning home on, has crashed? Will they come looking for where Oceanic Flight 815 has crashed? Will he ever see them all again?

He doesn't want to never see them again. Not even Tony. He may still not be on _very_ good terms with Tony Stark, but he doesn't want to never see the bastard again.

" _Hey_." A voice says, catching Bucky's attention.

He looks up over towards where the voice is coming from to see a man walking over to him. He's got no idea who this man is, and is surprised that the guy would even come near him.

"Hi." Bucky says, as the guy sits down in front of him.

"Are you okay?" The guy asks. "I'm a doctor, and just wanted to see if your okay." He explains. "I'm Jack Shepherd by the way." He adds, extending his hand out for Bucky to shake.

Bucky looks at the guy's hand, before taking it in his own, and thankfully he didn't have to shake with his left arm. He's not exactly wanting to possibly give this Jack Shepherd guy an electric shock.

"Bucky Barnes...." He trails off, not sure on what to say.

He's honestly too surprised that someone would even approach him. There's also the fact that he's not very good around people he's never met.

The guy nods. "Alright. Are you hurt?" He ask. "If you are, I can try to help you, Bucky." He says.

_He's_ _willing_ _to_ _help_ _?_ Bucky definitely wasn't expecting that. But, what could this guy possibly help with? The wound on his leg from the shrapnel is almost fully healed already, and he _thinks_ that's the only injury that he sustained from the crash.

Well, along with his metal arm seemingly malfunctioning. Which doesn't exactly make all that much sense as it's made from vibranium, the strongest metal on Earth. So he's not entirely sure why it would be malfunctioning. Though, he's not very tech savvy to know what the hell is wrong with it.

"I'm... I'm fine. My injuries heal quicker than a normal human." Bucky shakes his head. "I'm just a little, in shock I guess?" He says, but comes out more like a question. "Though, I can't exactly feel much with my left arm, but I'm not sure what you could do to help that. Unless you're good with Wakandan technology?"

The guy shakes his head. "Sorry, I can't say that I am." He says, before looking at Bucky closely. "You're the Winter Soldier, aren't you?" He asks.

Bucky looks over at him. He's not that surprised that this guy knows that he's the Winter Soldier, and he's more than likely not the only one here who knows it.

"Yeah.... I am." He nods. "Also called the White Wolf by most people in Wakanda." He says.

"I take it that you were travelling with Captain America then?" Jack asks, looking around the beach.

Bucky can only assume that he's trying to see if he can spot Captain America anywhere. Unfortunately though, Steve is nowhere to be found. Bucky has already searched everywhere along the beach and in the jungle behind the beach, but has had no luck in finding him at all.

He nods. "But I can't find him _anywhere_ _._ " He says. "It's like he's just, disappeared into thin air. Which I guess from all the shit I've seen isn't really too far fetched."

It _really_ wouldn't surprise him at this point if Steve has just disappeared into thin air. After all the shit that he's seen, someone disappearing into thin air seems like it would be a possibility.

He's not sure if it's _actually_ possible to just disappear, but it certainly wouldn't surprise him. Though he's fairly certain that Doctor Strange guy can do something similar to that.

"I've looked _everywhere_ for him, but I _still_ can't find Steve." Bucky sighs, not caring about the tears slipping down his face.

The guy nods, looking apologetic, as he places a hand on Bucky's shoulder. "I'm sorry for your loss." He says.

Bucky looks up at him. "I don't believe that Steve is dead. I just can't find him anywhere _here_ _._ " He says.

"Bucky, the plane broke apart while still in the air." Jack says. He goes to say more, but Bucky cuts him off.

"I _have_ to believe that Steve is still alive somewhere wherever the fuck we are." He says. "He's the only thing keeping me alive, and if he were to die..." He sighs, shaking his head. " _I might just kill myself._ "

**XXXX**

The sky has begun to grow dark before Bucky decides to walk around on the shore. As he does this, he notices almost all of the other survivors sitting in small groups, or sitting alone.

He doesn't really fancy going and sitting with people he doesn't even know. Maybe if Steve were here he'd consider it, seeing as he'd be with Steve, but on his own? He doesn't quite feel welcome to do so.

Thankfully his left arm seems to be working a little better now. No more electric shocks are always a good thing, but at this point, he's pretty much used to them, especially with the amount of times that Hydra would do it to him....

But even so, the arm is _still_ acting a little weird, and he's got no idea why.

He stops, standing at the edge of the shore. He doesn't care that his shoes are getting wet from the sea. In fact, he doesn't care about anything at this point. The only thing that he ever truly cared about, is Steve Rogers. But Steve isn't here.

He doesn't even know where Steve is, and that's what hurts the most. The one person he cares about, is gone.

Though, he doesn't quite believe that Steve is dead. He's _got_ to believe that Steve is still alive somewhere on this island, and that they'll be reunited soon. If he can't believe that, then what else is there for him to believe in?

Steve is the only thing that's keeping him alive, and without Steve, the _only_ connection from his past that is left, he's not sure what he'd do if Steve's dead. The only thing that he knows for sure, is that he'd probably just kill himself.

What's the point in living in a world where everyone is wary of you because of what you were _forced_ to do, while the only one who truly knows who you are, is gone? That isn't a world that Bucky wants to live in. He doesn't want to live in a world without Steve.

Looking up at the stars in the sky, Bucky finds himself actually seeing the stars for once. Seeing as back in America, and most other places he's managed to go, it's not very easy to actually see the stars. Mainly from all the pollution that's been dumped into the atmosphere by humans over the years. He supposes that alien invasions may play a small part in it, but he kinda doubts it.

A weird mechanical type noise that almost sounds train-like, causes him to spin around, before racing up the beach to the rest of the survivors as the sound grows louder. He stops, looking around at everyone who is looking over towards the source of the sound.

With his enhanced hearing, Bucky manages to pick out what some of the others are saying.

_"What was that?"_ A tall blonde woman asks.

_"That was weird, right?"_ A short blond guy asks. Bucky _thinks_ its a British accent he can pick up from the guy.

_"Is that Vincent?"_ A young boy asks, to which Bucky is assuming is the boy's father replies; _"That's not Vincent."_

He isn't sure who the hell Vincent is, but whoever he may be, he's almost positive that that can't possibly be him.

Taking a few steps back, he looks out towards the trees to see them being smashed down, as whatever that thing out there is, crashes through them.

_"Did anybody see that?"_

Bucky looks to his side, to find that it was a young blonde woman who had spoken. She also appeared to be _very_ pregnant, which alarms him as to how someone _that_ pregnant managed to survive a plane crash with only a few scratches, let alone even be able to board a plane.

In fact, he's not even sure how any of them managed to survive a plane crash with only a few scratches. Of course, there are some of the survivors who are more injured than others, but as he looks around, he finds that most appear to not be that hurt at all.

_"Yeah."_

He finds that the voice belongs to a rather, large guy standing next to the young pregnant woman.

Looking around, Bucky notices everyone else moving towards the sound a little, and staring off through the trees. All of them - or most - clearly look terrified of whatever the hell is out there. Bucky on the other hand, isn't sure what the hell to think of it.

_"Terrific."_ He manages to hear that British guy mutter.

Looking back through the trees, Bucky shakes his head a little. _"What the hell?"_


	5. 02 // Handcuffs, Transceivers, and Polar Bears

_**Covers season 1 episode 2; Pilot pt. 2** _

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

A day has passed. A day since the crash, and no rescue has come. Bucky doesn't have much hope that rescue will come straight away, and even if it does, he's not leaving until he finds Steve.

He _can't_ leave without Steve, he just can't.

But he doesn't know where to start in finding Steve. He's looked all over the beach, and he's no where to be seen. There's still the jungle to look through, so Steve could be in there somewhere. He just hopes he's not dead.

If Steve's dead, then he doesn't see much point in getting off this island, or even living. Steve's the _only_ thing that's keeping him alive, and without him, he just doesn't see much point in carrying on.

As he stares out at the ocean, a commotion down the beach pulls him out of his thoughts, and as he looks down the beach, he finds two men arguing and fighting. He's not sure what they're arguing about, nor does he _really_ care, it's none of his business after all, but he finds himself getting up off the sand and walking over towards the commotion.

"What's going on?" Bucky asks, walking over to the group of people standing and watching the fight break out, with some of them trying to break up the fight.

"The kid found a pair of handcuffs." A rather large guy says, looking over at Bucky, but takes a few steps back as he notices who it is.

Bucky pretends to ignore that. "Handcuffs?" He asks, looking over towards the two men that are still arguing and fighting, one a middle Eastern man, and Bucky can only guess that the other is a redneck, or close enough.

He can gather what went down afterwards, judging by the words the two arguing are saying. The redneck had accused the middle Eastern guy that the handcuffs belonged to him, thus a fight broke out.

_"Stop!"_

Bucky turns to find that the voice belongs to a brunette woman with freckles. And thankfully, the two men stop. With some help from others pulling them away from each other.

"We found the transceiver, but it's not working." She says. "Can anyone help?"

Bucky vaguely remembers overhearing that a small group had went out into the jungle to try and find the plane's cockpit, and he guesses she must've been one of the ones who went.

"Yes, I might be able to." The middle Eastern guy says, which in turn earns a remark from the redneck.

_"Oh great. Perfect! Let's trust this guy!"_

"Hey! Were all in this together, man." The large guy next to Bucky says. "Let's treat each other with a little respect."

At that point, Bucky zones out of the conversation, not really caring about what is being said. Though, he's interested to know whether or not the group had found any survivors out in the jungle, so he makes his way over to the woman.

"Excuse me?" He asks, stopping for a second as he gets a good look at her.

She looks _very_ familiar, he just can't place _how_ she looks so familiar....

She looks over at him. "Yes?"

He shakes his head. "Sorry, you just look familiar somehow." He says, and as he says that, he notices as she suddenly looks nervous for some reason. "What's your name?"

"Kate Austen." She says.

Well, her name's not ringing any bells. Maybe he was mistaken? But then _why_ does she look so familiar?

He nods. "Right. You went out to find the cockpit?" He asks. "Did, did you find any other survivors?"

She seems to relax a little as he doesn't mention anything else about how familiar she looks. "Um, no." She shakes her head. "Were you looking for someone?"

Upon hearing that, Bucky sighs in defeat. They found no other survivors. "Yeah." He sighs, looking down at the sand. "My boyfriend."

She nods, placing a hand on his shoulder. "What does he look like?"

Bucky huffs out a laugh as he pictures Steve. His hair is longer than usual right now, and he's managed to grow a beard - something he had never been able to do before the serum.

"Captain America, but with a beard and longer hair." He says.

She frowns, shaking her head. "I didn't get much of a look at the bodies, but I don't recall seeing him." She says. "Have you tried looking in the fuselage?"

Bucky shakes his head. He finds himself relieved that she didn't see Steve's body in the cockpit. But he hasn't yet looked in the fuselage properly, and if Steve _is_ dead, that's likely to be where he may be, or out somewhere in the water.

"Not yet." He says. "I've looked everywhere on the beach, except in the fuselage and the back of the plane, but I don't see the tail section anywhere on the beach."

He has a gut sinking feeling that Steve ended up on the tail section somehow, and if that's the case, then he may be gone. But he's not ready to give up hope just yet.

"The plane broke apart in mid air." Kate says. "I'm not so sure that anyone on the tail section survived."

Bucky sighs, shaking his head. "You're not the first person to tell me that." He says. "But, I _have_ to believe that he's still alive somewhere."

Kate nods. "Well, I can keep an eye out for him for you." She says. "You're Bucky Barnes, right?"

He nods. "Yeah. I am."

She nods, smiling a little, and Bucky finds himself glad that she's not reacting negatively towards him. He still gets people who are wary around him, so when someone treats him like a normal human being, it feels great. Though he's still not quite used to people viewing him as if there was nothing special about him.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Bucky." She says, holding out a hand for him to shake. "And I hope you're reunited with Steve soon. I just hope it's in the way you're hoping it will be."

"Yeah, me too." He says, shaking her hand. "And it was nice meeting you too, Kate." He huffs out a laugh. "And maybe I can try and figure out where I recognize you from."

Kate frowns, but nods. "Yeah."

**XXXX**

Bucky stands staring at the fuselage, trying to find the courage to go in there and find both his and Steve's luggage, or Steve's dead body. He doesn't quite fancy going in there, but it's quite possible that Steve's in there, or their luggage. He's not found any of their luggage on the beach yet.

Though he barely cares about their luggage right now. All he cares about is finding Steve alive, and if Steve's in the fuselage... it likely means something bad that he doesn't wish to think about.

Sighing, he turns away. He's not ready to look in there just yet. Maybe he can look through the jungle first. Except, where is he to start?

Looking along the beach, he notices Kate standing with that middle Eastern man, and by the looks of it, he may have fixed the transceiver.

Walking over to them, he overhears that he's fixed it, but he cannot get a good enough signal out in the beach, and that they'll have to find higher ground to have a better chance.

"Are you going into the jungle?" Bucky asks, approaching them.

Maybe he can accompany them, and look through the jungle for Steve at the same time.

"Yes." The man says. "But we must leave soon. I'm not sure how long the battery will last."

Bucky nods, looking between the man and Kate. "I was hoping I could come with you." He says. "I was planning on going out in there anyway, to look for my boyfriend." He looks out towards the trees. "I thought I could tag along with you and look for him at the same time."

"Alright." The man nods. "We're leaving soon, so you best get ready...."

"I'm Bucky." Bucky says, holding out his hand for the man to shake. "Bucky Barnes."

The man takes his hand. "Sayid." He shakes Bucky's hand. "Sayid Jarrah."

Bucky nods, glad that this guy - just like Kate - hasn't reacted negatively towards him. And in that case, just _maybe_ everyone else will be okay with who he is too.

_He hopes...._

"I see you're good with tech stuff?" Bucky asks as something crosses his mind, and he only just remembers that his arm is still acting up and just overall being weird. "I'm not sure if it would be too advanced for you, but would you mind seeing what you can do about my arm?" He holds his left arm up. "It's been acting weird ever since the crash, and I'm not very good with tech."

He's still unsure _why_ his arm is being weird. Vibranium is meant to be the strongest metal on earth, so why would it be malfunctioning? He's _almost_ certain that Shuri wouldn't make him a faulty arm....

"I can take a look at it once we get back." Sayid says, looking over the arm. "But I've never seen anything like it, so I can't make any promises that I'll be able to repair it. What is it made out of?"

"Vibranium, and the person who made it is a literal genius, so I don't understand _why_ it's malfunctioning." Bucky says.

He'd understand more if it was one of the arms that Hydra had built for him. From what he can remember - which isn't a lot, thank god - is that those had malfunctioned frequently, and it was always a pain when they had to fix it. And it's not like they were very gentle in fixing them either....

Sayid nods. "I'll see what I can do."

**XXXX**

Bucky stands around with Sayid and Kate, ready to go off into the jungle. He's not sure what they'll find out there, or if they'll be able to get a signal on the transceiver, but he's hoping that they'll find something.

He's hoping that nothing in the jungle will attack them. He's not sure what the hell is out there, and judging my the noise they heard out there on the first night, whatever is out there, isn't good.

And _hopefully_ they don't run into whatever that thing is....

"I could really use a knife or a gun right now." He sighs, shoving his hands in his pockets.

If only he could find his luggage. He's got a knife and a gun in one of his bags, as he feels safer with a knife or a gun on his person at all times. One part of Hydra's conditioning that's managed to stick.

"I think all of us could use one." Kate agrees.

Bucky nods, kicking at the sand with his shoe. He's gonna have to have a look for his stuff once they get back, and _hopefully_ no one else manages to find his luggage before he does and finds the knife and gun in one of his bags. That probably won't end very well for him if someone finds those....

_"I'd like to come with you."_

Bucky turns to find the voice belongs to some tall blonde woman who can't be no more than twenty walking over to them, followed by some young dark haired guy who appears to be trying to stop her.

"She's not going. She doesn't want to go." The guy says.

"The hell I'm not!" The girl shoots back at him.

Bucky looks between the pair of them as they begin arguing. As he gets a good look at the girl, he finds that it's probably not a good idea for her to go with them, but she seems like the type that gets what she wants.

"I don't... know if that's a good idea." Kate says.

The girl turns to Kate, looking her up and down. "What are you? Two years older than me? _Please...._ " She says, before turning towards a blond guy who's just joined the group. "You're going, aren't you?"

"Yeah." The guy says. It's that British guy, Bucky doesn't know his name. "Are you?"

"Yup." The girl says.

"Yeah, I'm definitely going." The British guy nods.

"Look, everyone can come." Kate says, before anymore arguments can break out. "But we're leaving _now_."

And Bucky finds himself glad that no more arguments occur after that, as the group begins to head on out off the beach and into the jungle.

As they _finally_ set off into the jungle, Bucky looks behind him as he hears someone approaching them from behind. Thankfully - or maybe more like unfortunately - it's just that redneck guy from earlier.

"You've decided to join us." Kate says, as she too notices the guy following them.

"I'm a complex guy, sweetheart." The guy says, as he begins walking ahead of them a little.

Bucky's not entirely sure if it's a good thing that that guy is accompanying them, and he's not quite sure if he likes that that guy has joined them....

"Terrific...." British mutters.

Seems as though someone else isn't too pleased about their new companion, and Bucky's sure the same goes for everyone else.

Bucky doesn't dwell on the thought of their new companion for much longer as he follows the rest of the group through the jungle. Keeping a look out through the trees for any signs of Steve.

Eventually he learns the names of the others in the group along with himself, Kate, and Sayid. He learns the British guys name is Charlie and that he was the bassist in some rock band, Drive Shaft that he's never heard of before. Way past his time, he had told Charlie when the guy had mentioned it.

The tall blonde woman, is Shannon, and the darker haired guy with her is her brother, Boone. The same guy who was running around asking for a pen after the crash.

And then the redneck asshole. Sawyer.

Unfortunately while they've been hiking through the jungle, Bucky's found no signs of Steve anywhere. He thinks they're in pretty far from the beach, and so far no signs of Steve.

If Steve is out here, then he would've thought that he'd have found him by now, but so far there's nothing. Which means the likelihood of Steve being dead inside the fuselage, is higher.

"Are you looking for something?" Charlie asks, falling into step next to Bucky, as he notices him looking through the trees around them the deeper they go in through the jungle.

"Yeah." Bucky nods. "My boyfriend, Steve. He's not out on the beach anywhere." He says. "I was hoping that Id find him out in the jungle somewhere. But so far, there's nothing."

Charlie nods, going to say more, but stops as Sawyer speaks.

"Okay! Wide open space!" Sawyer says. "You should check the radio, see if we're good."

Bucky looks over at the guy. He has a feeling that they're going to have a few problems with him....

"We're not going to have any reception here." Sayid says.

"Just try it." Sawyer says.

"I don't want to waste the batteries." Sayid.

"I'm not asking you to keep it on all day." Sawyer.

"We're still blocked by the mountain." Sayid.

"Just check the damn radio!" Sawyer.

"If I just check, we might not have any juice left when we get to..." Sayid doesn't finish what he's saying as there's movement in the trees behind them.

The group looks around as they hear a growl through the trees, and Bucky finds himself wishing that he had either a knife or a gun on him. Preferably a gun.

If only he had managed to find his luggage before going out on this hike....

"What the hell's that?" Boone asks.

"Something's coming." Kate says.

"It's coming towards us, I think." Charlie says.

Bucky looks around, not finding anything approaching them. _Yet...._ Just because it's not come near them yet, doesn't mean that it won't.

But he can hear it coming closer.

"We gotta run." Bucky says. "Whatever it is, it's close."

He looks towards both Kate and Sayid, who are both beginning to back away.

Kate nods agreeing with him that they got to run. "Come on, let's move."

They all begin to back away from the sound, before they're breaking out in a run as whatever's out there begins to get closer to them all.

"I shouldn't have come on this hike!" Shannon screams, as Boone begins pushing her along.

Bucky runs, pushing Charlie along in front of him to get him to move faster as he hears Sayid yelling for them to run.

Though, as he runs with the others, he notices that Sawyer is still back there near the noise. Though he doesn't find himself caring. Let that asshole get eaten by whatever that thing is out there.

Though they all stop running as they hear gunshots. Several of them.

Bucky turns, looking off towards where Sawyer is standing holding a gun, and as he makes his way back over to him along with the others, he stops as he sees the bear that lays in front of him. And it's not just _any_ bear....

"What the fuck?" He says, as he stares down at the white bear.

"That's..." Shannon trails off. "That's a big bear."

"You think that's what killed the pilot?" Boone asks.

"No." Charlie shakes his head. "No, that's a tiny, _teeny_ version compared to that."

Kate walks closer to the bear, looking it over. "Guys, this isn't just a... bear." She says. "It's a _polar bear_."

Bucky moves closer kneeling down in front of the dying bear. Ignoring Shannon warning him to be careful, he examines the bear. It's _definitely_ a polar bear. But _how_ and _why_ it's here, he has no clue. He's seen some weird shit over these past years, but he's _never_ seen a polar bear living on a tropical island before.

"What the hell is a polar bear doing out here?" He asks, looking towards the others who are all just as confused as he is.

Polar bears shouldn't be anywhere near this place, so why and how the fuck did it get here?

"That can't be a polar bear." Boone says.

"It's a polar bear." Sayid, Kate, and Bucky all say at the same time.

"Yeah, but..." Shannon starts. "Polar bears don't usually live in the jungle."

"Spot on." Charlie.

"No, polar bears don't live near this far south." Sayid.

"This one does." Boone.

" _Did._ " Sawyer corrects him. "It _did_."

"Where did that come from?" Kate asks, as she notices the gun in Sawyers hand.

"Probably Bear Village." Sawyer says. "How the hell do I know?"

"Not the bear." Kate sighs. "The _gun_."

"I got it off one of the bodies." Sawyer.

"One of the bodies?" Sayid asks.

"Yeah, one of the bodies." Sawyer.

"People don't carry guns on planes." Shannon.

"I do." Bucky says, as he stands up. "Conditioning from Hydra that's never left." He explains, as the others all turn to look at him. "I never carry them loaded on planes, and I have all the paperwork for them."

Now that he thinks about it, maybe he shouldn't have mentioned that.... Too late now though.

"They do if they're a US Marshal, sweet cheeks." Sawyer tells Shannon. "Or if you're this guy over here apparently." He adds, referring to Bucky. "There was a Marshal on the plane."

"How do you know that?" Kate asks. "How do you know there was a Marshal on the plane?"

Bucky notices her stiffen a little upon hearing that, and he only just notices her look a little worried about it. He doesn't say anything about it though.

"I saw a guy lying there with an ankle holster, so I took the gun." Sawyer says. "I thought it might come in handy. Guess what? I just shot a bear!"

Well, Bucky won't deny that it _did_ come in handy. If it weren't for Sawyer having the gun, they'd all still be trying to get away from the bear.

"So why do you think he's a Marshal?" Kate questions.

"Because he had a clip-on badge." Sawyer says, holding up the clip-on badge. "I took that too. Thought it was cool."

"I know who you are." Sayid says, moving a little closer to Sawyer. " _You're_ the prisoner."

"I'm the what?" Sawyer.

Bucky sighs, just knowing that this is going to result in another fight between the two of them just like it did earlier.

"You found a gun on a US Marshal. Yes, I believe you did." Sayid starts. "You knew where it was, because _you_ were the one he was bringing back to the States. Those handcuffs were on _you_. That's how you knew there was a gun."

"Sayid, you don't know that for sure." Bucky says, trying to stop a fight from breaking out, but both Sayid and Sawyer don't appear to be listening.

"Piss off." Sawyer.

"That's who you are, you son of a bitch." Sayid.

"Be as suspicious of me as I am of you." Sawyer.

"But you are the prisoner." Sayid.

"Fine! I'm the criminal." Sawyer says, throwing his hands up in the air. "You're the terrorist." He points to Sayid. "And he's the assassin." He points to Bucky. "We can all play a part." He turns to Shannon. "Who do you want to be?"

Bucky rolls his eyes, trying to ignore the urge to punch the guy in the face. He's barely known the guy for not even a full day, and he already wants to punch him. And he's beginning to feel that he and Sawyer definitely won't be getting along anytime soon.

While Sawyer is turned, Bucky notices Kate move closer to him, and takes the gun from him, taking him and everyone else by surprise as she points it at him.

"Does anybody know how to use a gun?" She asks, keeping the gun trained on Sawyer.

"I think you just... pull the trigger." Charlie offers.

"Don't use the gun." Sayid.

"I want to take it apart." Kate explains. "How do you do that?"

"There's a button on the grip. Push that, it will eject the magazine." Sayid explains. "There's still a round in the chamber. Hold the grip, pull the top part of the gun."

As Kate follows Sayid's instructions, Bucky finds himself believing that Kate already knows how to do all of that, but lied about not knowing how to use one. Why she'd lie, he's not sure, but he has an odd feeling that she already knows exactly how to use one.

Kate gives the magazine to Sayid after, and the gun to Sawyer.

Bucky notices Sawyer pulling Kate towards him more, but he doesn't hear what he tells her. Though, he doesn't find himself very interested to find out what it was he told her anyway. It's none of his business.

"Come on." Sayid says. "We need to keep moving."


	6. 03 // Iteration....

**_Covers season 1 episode 2; Pilot pt. 2_ **

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

“You okay?” Kate asks, falling into step beside Bucky.

Bucky looks over at her, before he sighs, shaking his head. “I’m as fine as I can be.” He says, before looking around the trees surrounding them. “It’s just… there’s _still_ no sign of Steve anywhere.”

They’ve been walking through the jungle for quite some time now, and there’s still been no signs of Steve anywhere. It’s like he’s just... disappeared. Which after all he’s seen, really doesn’t seem so far fetched.

To be fair though, he’s still not looked inside the fuselage, so there’s the chance that Steve may be in there. He thinks that once they get back to the beach he’ll go look in the fuselage in case Steve’s in there. Maybe He'll even look for his and Steve’s luggage in there. But finding Steve is much more of a higher priority to him than finding their luggage.

If Steve is in there though, then he’s likely going to be dead. If he’s not in there though, then Bucky has no clue where the fuck he could be.

Apart from the tail section of the plane, but everyone from the tail section are likely to be dead. Besides, why would Steve have been on the tail section anyway?

“He might still turn up.” Kate offers. “I wouldn’t give up hope.”

Bucky sighs, nodding. He sure hopes that Steve may still turn up, and he’s certainly not about to give up hope yet. He _has_ to believe that he will turn up. If he doesn’t, then he doesn’t know what he’d do.

They don’t say anymore, just continue to walk along through the trees with the rest of the group.

All while they walk through the trees, Bucky can’t help but glance over at Kate every so often. He doesn’t know how she looks so familiar to him somehow. He feels like he should know, but he doesn’t know how he should know.

She just looks so familiar….

********

_“So, when are Scott and Hope meant to get here?” Bucky asks, sipping on his coffee as he and Steve sit at a table in the local Starbucks._

_They had planned on meeting up with Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne - Ant-Man and the Wasp._

_Bucky wasn’t really too keen on going out at all, but he quite enjoys hanging out with Scott and Hope. which is a rarity, as he doesn’t really often enjoy hanging out with a lot of the others very often._

_To be fair though, he doesn’t really like going out every often to begin with. But with Scott and Hope, he does quite enjoy going out with. Usually it’s only for coffee or lunch, but whatever._

_Steve looks down at his phone, checking the time. “They should be here in about ten or so minutes.”_

_Bucky nods, looking out the window._

_A few passersby stop and stare at him as they notice who he is, but Bucky doesn’t care. He’s used to it. He’s just glad that all they usually do is stare. Though usually when it’s children they get curious and ask questions - which he doesn’t mind. Kids are curious anyway, so it’s to be expected._

_“Oh, here they are.” Steve says, looking over towards the doors just as Scott and Hope enter the cafe._

_Bucky turns to see them walking in, and Scott is making his way over to them while Hope goes to order their coffees._

_“Hey!” Scott says, taking a seat next to Steve. “Sorry we’re late. My fault.”_

_“It’s okay, man.” Steve says. “At least you’re here now.”_

_Hope comes over to them not long after with her and Scott’s coffees and takes a seat next to Bucky and hands Scott his coffee._

_“So…” Hope starts. “You two figured out where you’re gonna go for your holiday?”_

_“Six months around New Zealand and Australia.” Bucky says._

_Bucky and Steve had made a list of everywhere they wanted to go for their holiday, and they’ve decided that spending six months going around New Zealand and Australia is what they’re going to do. Out of every other option that they had came up with, this one had sounded the most appealing to them._

_Their vacation will be beginning in about three weeks, and they’re both just counting down the days until they leave._

_Six months without the other Avengers, and they won’t have to worry about any bad guys that they’d have to take down if they weren’t going away. Which they certainly need a break from._

_They just hope that nothing very bad will happen that’ll cause their holiday to be cut short. That’s the last thing that they want to happen._

_“That sounds fun.” Scott says. “Damn, I wish we could go on holiday for six months.”_

_“Well maybe we can go on holiday in a few months.” Hope says. “But Steve and Bucky need it more than any of the rest of us.”_

_“I know.” Scott says. “So what do you both plan on doing on your holiday?”_

_Steve shrugs. They haven’t really planned what they’re going to do exactly, mostly they’ll just figure that out once they get there. All they know is that they’re going to just relax and try to have a good time until they have to return home._

_“We haven’t really planned that far ahead.” Steve admits. “We’re mostly going to just figure that out once we get there.”_

_“Mostly because we don’t know a lot of what we can do there.” Bucky adds. “I kind of just want to relax on some beach without having to worry about any bad guys needing to be taken down.”_

_“That sounds great.” Hope says._

_Bucky nods. He can’t wait to just relax on some beach with Steve, not having to worry about anything to do with the Avengers._

_“So…” Scott starts. “We gonna get something to eat? I’m starving.”_

_“I agree with Scott.” Bucky says, he too feeling rather hungry. “Let’s go get some food.”_

********

Bucky keeps glancing over at Kate, and as he does so, he figures out exactly how she looks so familiar to him. She looks almost exactly like someone he knows back home.

Kate looks over at him, noticing the way he keeps looking over at her. “Something wrong?”

He shakes his head, huffing out a laugh. “I think I know how you look familiar.”

She looks almost _exactly_ like Hope Van Dyne. The reason Kate looks familiar to him, is because she looks like the Wasp, one of the Avengers back home.

Well, Hope isn’t _exactly_ one of the Avengers, but he’s worked alongside her and Scott Lang - Ant-Man - on a few missions before, and he and Steve would regularly hang out with her and Scott.

“You look almost _exactly_ like someone I know back home.” He says, noticing the way Kate seems to shift nervously. “Her names Hope. Hope Van Dyne.”

Kate nods, relaxing a little. “She one of the Avengers?”

“Eh, not really.” Bucky says. “I’m not _really_ one myself either. But we’ve worked with her before.” He shrugs. “She’s the Wasp. You heard of her?”

Kate shakes her head, not seeming to be familiar with who she is. Which doesn't really surprise him all that much, as a lot of people are mostly familiar with the bigger Avengers like Iron Man and Captain America.

Hell, the main reason a lot of people know about himself is because of Steve, and all the bad things the media has said about him.

“You’ve never heard of the Wasp?” He asks. “Ant-Man and the Wasp?”

“Sorry, can’t say I have.” Kate apologizes.

Bucky laughs, shaking his head a little. “That‘s alright. Though I guess Scott was right, and people only care to know about the big ones, like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk over all the rest of us.” He says. “The media’s fault really, they only ever care to talk about them.”

“That doesn’t bother you?” Kate asks. “That they don’t talk more about the rest of you?”

He shakes his head. “Oh, I prefer it that way.” He says. “The less the media says about me, the better. Though I’d prefer if they’d talk about me in a way other than bad.”

Even after it’s been proved that he’s not a threat and he had been declared innocent in his trial last year, he’s _still_ viewed as a villain by many people, especially the media. He supposes that people just love drama, even when said drama is not entirely true…. Nothing he can really do about that though.

Kate goes to say something, but she's cut off by Sawyer.

“Oh! Now's a good time to check the radio!” He exclaims, just as Sayid pulls out the transceiver once they come out onto a large clearing. “Not before, but now!”

“We're up higher.” Is the only reply he gets from Sayid, as he turns the transceiver on.

“Yes, we are!” Sawyer says.

Sayid stops all of a sudden. “Hey! We've got a bar!” He says, and everyone including Bucky runs over to him. “Mayday! Mayday!”

“What is that?” Kate asks, as they hear something coming through on the transceiver.

“Feedback.” Sayid.

“Feedback from what?” Kate asks. “What would do that?”

“I don't know.” Sayid.

“I'll tell you what would do that. This guy not fixing the radio.” Sawyer says. “This thing doesn't even work.”

Sayid shakes his head. “No. No, no, no, no, it's not broken.” He says. “We can't transmit because something else is already transmitting.”

“Transmitting from where?” Charlie asks.

“It has to be somewhere close, right?” Bucky says. “Maybe a rescue boat?”

It’s got to be the rescue boat, right? Bucky sure hopes that’s what it is. Although if it is, he’s not getting on the boat until he finds Steve. He’s not leaving without him.

Sayid nods. “Bucky’s right, it’s coming from somewhere close.” He says. “The signals strong.”

“Somewhere close? You mean on the Island?” Charlie asks. “That's great!”

“Maybe it's other survivors.” Boone suggests.

Of it being even the slightest possibility of other survivors, Bucky finds himself hoping that that’s what it is. If it’s other survivors from their plane, that _could_ mean that Steve is alive.

And if there’s any possibility that Steve is still alive, then Bucky’s going to take it.

“From our plane?” Shannon asks. “How would they even—”

Sawyer cuts her off. “What kind of transmission is it?”

“Could be a sat phone, maybe a radio signal…” Sayid.

“Can we listen to it?” Kate.

“Let me get the frequency first.” Sayid says, as he begins playing around with the settings, trying to find the right frequency. “Hold on.”

“There's no transmission.” Sawyer.

Bucky turns to him, growing more annoyed with the guy by the second. “Why don’t you just shut up, before I make you?”

“I’d love to see you try, Robo-Cop.” Sawyer.

“Oh I _will_ if you’re not careful.” Bucky says, about to walk closer to Sawyer, ready to do something, but stops as Kate yells at them.

“Shut up!” She says, grabbing a hold of Bucky’s arm to stop him from moving closer to Sawyer and doing some damage. “Hurting him won’t accomplish anything.” She adds, loud enough for only Bucky to hear. “He’s not worth it.”

He knows she’s right, so he doesn’t do anything as Kate lets go of his arm. Doesn’t stop him from wanting to do something to make Sawyer shut up though. But like Kate had said, he’s not worth it and hurting him won’t accomplish anything.

“The rescue party. It has to be.” Charlie says. “Right?”

And just as Charlie speaks, they hear the transmission coming through. A woman speaking in French.

“It's French!” Charlie exclaims. “The French are coming! I've never been so happy to hear the French!”

“I never took French.” Kate says, looking around the group. “What is she saying?”

“D-does anybody speak French?” Sayid asks, looking around the group.

Boone looks towards Shannon. “She does.”

“No, I don't.” Shannon says, standing back a little. “What?”

“What the hell are you talking about? You spent a year in Paris!” Boone exclaims.

“Drinking, _not_ studying!” Shannon corrects him.

 _“Iteration 17294531”_ A strange, deep male voice says after the French woman’s transmission, then straight after the French woman’s transmission repeats itself.

“Okay. What's that?” Charlie asks, referring to the strange male voice. Though, no one replies to his question.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.” Sayid.

“ _‘No, no, no’_ what?” Kate.

“What _‘no’_?” Shannon.

“The-the batteries are dying!” Sayid.

“How much time do we have?” Kate

“Not much.” Sayid.

“I've heard you speak French! Just listen to this! Listen to it!” Boone says, trying to get Shannon to translate the message.

“I can't!” Shannon.

“You speak French or not? Because that would be nice.” Sawyer.

_“Iteration 17294532”_

“That voice is weird.” Charlie says. “What is that?”

“Come on. Come on, Shannon!” Boone.

“Come on!” Kate.

The others fall silent, so Shannon is able to listen. “It's... it's repeating.” She says.

“She's right.” Sayid.

“What?” Boone.

“It's a loop. _‘Iteration’_ —it's repeating the same message.” Sayid says. “It's a counter. The next number will end... _‘533’_.”

_“Iteration 17294533”_

Just as Sayid had said, the next number in the counter ends in 533.

“Does anyone know what the hell he's talking about?” Sawyer asks.

“It's a running count of the number of times the message has repeated.” Sayid explains. “It's roughly thirty seconds long, so... how long….”

“Don't forget to carry the one, chief.” Sawyer.

_“Iteration 17294534”_

Shannon sighs, before she begins translating. “She's saying .. _‘Please’_.” She says, her voice shaking. “She's saying, _‘Please help me. Please, come get me’.”_

“Or she's not!” Sawyer says. “ _You_ don't even speak French!”

Bucky looks over at him, just about ready to shut this guy up if he keeps on acting like an ass. He’s not usually a very violent person, despite what everyone in the media seems to think he is, but he’s _very_ close to doing something to shut this guy up.

“Let her listen!” Kate shouts towards Sawyer, trying to get him to shut up.

“Shut up, man!” Boone says, also trying to get Sawyer to shut it.

“Guys, the battery.” Charlie says, reminding them that the battery won’t last long. “The battery.”

_“Iteration 17294535”_

Shannon takes the transceiver from Sayid, holding it up to her ear as she continues to translate the message. “I'm alone now. Uhm…. On the Island alone…. Please, someone come.” She continues. “The others, they're... they're dead. I-it killed them…. I-it killed them all.”

They’re not able to hear anything more as the transceiver goes dead.

“That was good.” Boone says, letting Shannon know she did good.

Bucky stands back. He could roughly understand what was being said in the transmission, and Shannon’s translation was fairly accurate to what the French woman - whoever she is - was saying. It wasn’t perfect, but she got the main message about what the woman was saying.

“Sixteen years….” Sayid suddenly says, catching the attention of the entire group.

“What?” Sawyer.

Bucky looks over at him, not understanding what Sayid is referring to. “Sixteen years?” He asks. “What, what does that mean?”

“Sixteen years. And five months.” Sayid says. “That's the count.”

“The count for what?” Boone asks. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“The iterations. It's a distress call. A plea for help. A mayday.” Sayid explains. “If the count is right... It's been playing over... and over... for sixteen years.”

“Someone else... was stranded here?” Boone.

“Maybe they came for them.” Kate.

“If someone came, why is it still playing?” Sawyer.

Bucky shakes his head. “It wouldn’t still be playing if someone had come for them.” He says. “There’d be no need for it to keep playing if someone came.”

The group grows silent, taking in what the French woman on the transmission had said. She’s alone on the island, and something had killed her group. Alone for _sixteen years_.

Just exactly what is this place they’ve crashed onto?

“Guys…” Charlie starts being the first one to speak up.

_“Where are we?”_


	7. 04 // The Thing in the Jungle

_**Covers season 1 episode 3** _ _**;** _ _**Tabula** _ _**Rosa** _

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

As Bucky follows the rest of the group through the jungle back towards camp, he can't help but replay over in his mind what the French woman on the transmission had said; _"it killed them all" "they're all dead"_.

He hates to think about what the hell had happened to her and the rest of her people. Not to mention that if she's still alive, then she's been stranded here for _sixteen years_.

And what else is out in the jungle besides polar bears. As much as he hates to think it, but there's got to be something else out there besides polar bears. He doubts that the bears are the ones knocking down the trees.

He's still at a loss on why the fuck there's polar bears on this island. As far as he's aware, they should be in the snow. And he can't see any snow here.

"It's getting dark." Boone says.

"Then pick up the pace." Sawyer says.

"Hick." Boone mutters.

Sawyer stops, turning to face Boone. "Little louder?"

Bucky moves to intervene if he has to, but thankfully there's no need to, as it doesn't appear that it'll lead to a fight between Sawyer and Boone breaking out. But just in case, he remains on edge, ready to break them up if it does.

"We should make camp." Sayid announces as they all stop in the middle of a small clearing.

"What, here?" Shannon asks.

"Yes, here." Sayid says.

Bucky looks around. They're in the middle of a clearing with no trees or anything for shelter. Not exactly the best spot to make camp for the night....

"Bit open don't you think?" He asks. "Doesn't really give us much protection from whatever's out in the jungle."

"If you're worried about what's out there, you can stand guard." Sayid says.

Sighing, Bucky nods. He doesn't quite like this plan of making camp out in the open when there's bears out in the jungle along with something else that they have no idea of. But he's willing to stand guard. Someone's got to after all, and he was going to stand guard either way.

"Well, I'm not stopping." Sawyer announces as he starts walking again. "Y'all have a nice cookout."

"Excellent, walk through the jungle in the dark." Sayid says.

"Oooo, afraid the trees are going to get us?" Sawyer asks, turning around to face the group.

Sayid shakes his head. "No, what is knocking down the trees will get you."

Sawyer huffs out a laugh, pulling the gun out of his pocket, waving it around a little. "Well, if you're so worried about me, how about you give me the clip back?"

"Put the gun back in your pants, Sawyer." Kate says. "Sayid's right, if you keep walking, you're not going to make it to the beach."

"Oh yeah? And why's that?" Sawyer asks.

"Trust me." Kate says.

Bucky notices the way Charlie looks away, and Kate shifts on her feet a little. And that's got him curious about what exactly they had seen out there when they went out to look for the cockpit.

"Bucky, Charlie." Sayid says. "You both go out and look for some firewood."

"Sure." Bucky nods, looking over towards Charlie. "Come on."

He walks through the trees with Charlie following behind, and they start looking for wood on the ground to use for firewood. Though as they don't find much on the ground, Bucky is forced to climb up into trees and break branches down.

Not something that he was hoping to do. Especially not when the mechanics in his left arm still don't seem to be working properly, and his leg still aches a little, but he's got to do what he has to. And he'd prefer if he's the one climbing up into the trees to break branches down instead of Charlie.

"You might want to stand back so none of them hit you." He calls down, as he drops the branches down to the ground below after snapping them off.

And thankfully Charlie moves out of the way before any of the branches can hit him. Which Bucky is thankful of. The last thing they need is for more injuries.

"This should be enough." Charlie says, picking up the branches just as Bucky jumps out of the tree.

Though, as Bucky jumps out of the tree he stumbles a little, having to grab hold of the trunk of the tree next to him to stable himself. His reflexes seem to be getting a little rusty, but he's been out of commission for the past six months and his leg is still a little achy, so it's not much of a surprise.

"You okay?" Charlie asks.

Bucky nods. "Yeah, I'm fine." He assures him, bending down to pick up some of the branches so Charlie doesn't have to carry them all. "Can I ask you something?"

Charlie looks up at him. "What do you want to know?"

He's curious about what exactly happened out in the jungle when Charlie went out to find the cockpit with Kate and Jack. maybe they saw whatever it is that was knocking the trees down in the jungle.

"When you, Kate, and Jack went out into the jungle last night to find the cockpit." He starts. "Did you see whatever it was out there?" He asks. "The thing out there that killed the pilot. Did you get a look at whatever it was?"

Charlie looks down, growing quiet, before he finds his voice. "No. I didn't see anything." He says. "I don't think Kate and Jack did either."

Bucky nods. He must admit, he's a little disappointed to hear that they didn't see what it was out there, which means they've got no clue what's out there, but it's just as he had expected.

"Well... let's just hope that whatever's out there doesn't come for us tonight." He says, looking around. "Come on. We should head back to the others."

**XXXX**

"Alright." Sayid starts, once they've got a fire going and they're all gathered around it. "This is Australia." He indicates to the rock he just dropped onto the grass. "And this is us." He says, referring to the lit stick he's holding.

"Nice stick." Sawyer says.

Sayid just ignores him as he continues. "Two days ago we take off from Sydney. We fly along the same north east route every commercial airliner bound for Los Angeles does." He says. "Now the pilot, he said he lost communication with the ground, correct?"

Kate nods. "Yeah, 6 hours in." She says. "He turned around and headed for Fiji."

"So, we changed course. Regrettably, no one knew we changed course." Sayid carries on. "The turbulence hit. We know the rest."

He puts out the fire on the stick, and sits down on the grass next to Bucky.

"The pilot said we were over a thousand miles off course." Kate says.

"Yeah, but... they'll find us." Charlie says. "They have satellites in space that can take pictures of your license plate."

"If only we were all wearing license plates." Sayid.

"Well, aren't you the pessimist." Charlie.

"Basic photography - point and shoot." Sayid explains. "Satellites can shoot, but they must be told _where_ to point."

"Oh.... Bollocks." Charlie.

"The rest of the world would know about the plane crash by now, right?" Bucky asks.

"By now, yes." Sayid nods.

Bucky nods. If the rest of the world knows about the crash by now, then he hopes that the others back at home are trying to do something to find them. He's sure they would be. It's not like they'd just abandon him and Steve, right?

"Well, I believe that the rest of my team back home would be conducting some sort of search." He says.

He's going to choose to believe that they are out looking for them.

"By team you mean the Avengers, right?" Boone asks.

Bucky nods. "Yeah. And I'm not well versed on a lot of technology in this day and age, but it's likely that Stark might have some sort of device that may help in finding us." He says. "And Natasha is an incredible tracker. She might be able to do something."

"Well she doesn't sound like an incredible one if it took her three years to track _you_ down." Sawyer comments. "The media said it took them three years to find you after what happened in D.C., right?"

Bucky looks over at him. "Natasha _is_ an incredible tracker." He says. "I should hope she is anyway. I was the one that trained her in Hydra's red rooms after all when I was...." He trails off. "But I'm just better at keeping out of sight I guess. And technically they didn't find me. The media got that part wrong. I came out of hiding."

He's not sure why the media got that part wrong. He had came out of hiding three years after the fall of Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. The Avengers didn't find him, he went to them.

Which in a way didn't turn out in his favor. Not after the whole civil war and the breaking of the Avengers. Then him and Steve fleeing to Wakanda after Tony found out about what happened to his parents and that big fight he, Steve, and Tony had. It's just a good thing after that T'Challa let them into Wakanda to recover and where Shuri had worked on removing Hydra's programming from his mind.

It's just a good thing that after his and Steve's stay in Wakanda that Tony allowed them to return, and the Avengers had reformed. Although there's still some bad blood between him and Tony, but they had talked it out, and for the most part, Tony had forgiven him.

He shakes his head, not wanting to think about all of that. It's got nothing to do with what they're currently talking about anyway.

"But back onto what's more important." Bucky starts, bringing the back onto the subject at hand. "If there's anyone I know of that has a high chance of finding us, it's the Avengers."

"How can they when no one knows where we are?" Shannon asks. "Kate says that the pilot said we were a thousand miles off course. How are a bunch of superheroes supposed to help?"

Bucky sighs. In truth, he's not sure _how_ they can find them, but he's just got to keep believing that they can. If only he had a tracking device in his arm, then maybe they'd have come by now.

"I don't know." He admits. "But there might be something that they can do." He says. "I suppose Strange could open up one of his portals, but I think he needs some idea of where we are to be able to open up one."

He's not entirely sure how Stephen Strange's portals work, but he doesn't think he can just open them up anywhere. He _thinks_ he needs to know where to open them up first, and who knows where the fuck this damn island is located.

"Okay, really enjoyed the puppet show. Fantastic. But we're stuck in the middle of damn nowhere, and I doubt a bunch of superhumans in fancy dress can help us." Sawyer starts. "So how about we talk about that other thing?" He says. "You know that transmission Abdul picked up on his little radio? The French chick that said, _"They're all dead."_ The transmission's been on a loop for... how long was it, Freckles?"

"16 years." Kate says.

"Right." Sawyer nods. "Let's talk about that."

"Well, we have to tell the others when we get back." Boone says.

"Tell them what, exactly?" Shannon asks.

"What we heard." Boone.

"You didn't hear anything." Shannon says. "I'm not a stupid translator."

Bucky sighs, shaking his head. "Telling them what we heard would go down _very_ well...."

He doesn't think it's such a good idea to tell the others what they had heard. If they tell them, it'll cause a panic, and the last thing that they need is for anyone to panic about the likelihood that rescue isn't going to come anytime soon.

So the best option for now, is to keep quiet about what they heard.

"No one's going to tell them anything." Sayid says. "To relay what we heard without fully understanding it will cause a panic. If we tell them what we know we take away their hope. And hope is a very dangerous thing to lose."

Bucky nods. "I agree."

"So we lie." Kate says.

"It's the only choice we've got to avoid panic." Bucky says. "After all, if we tell them, it's not going to end very well...."

**XXXX**

It takes a while, but eventually everyone is asleep, leaving Bucky sitting in front of the fire staring off towards the jungle in opposite them. He's in charge of standing guard incase something happens, like that thing in the jungle coming to them, or another polar bear coming across them.

Though he'd feel much more comfortable if he had a gun on him right now. There's only so much he can do without some sort of weapon, even if he is skilled in different forms of fighting. He doubts hand to hand combat will work very well against a polar bear, so a gun would very much be preferred right now.

All he's got is a long sturdy stick and a fire that's slowly burning out - which while it would do some form of damage, he'd much prefer a gun.

Of course he could take the gun from Sawyer and the magazine for the gun from Sayid, he'd rather not. He can make do with what he's got for now. With any luck, nothing will come at them anyway.

At least... he's hoping that nothing will come at them anyway.

He's not sure how much time of him just sitting there has passed, when he hears what sounds like some sort of ticking noise - like what was heard on the beach on the first night of the crash - and then rustling through the trees.

Standing up, he tightens his hold on the stick. He really doesn't think the stick will do much damage, but it's better than nothing. However the gun would be _much_ more helpful.

Slowly, he begins walking towards the sound and through the trees, glancing over his shoulder back at the group. Mostly making sure that none of them have woken. He'd rather go check this out alone.

Walking through the trees, he looks around. The light from the moon barely shining a light through the trees for him to see much, but he manages. Something useful about the damn serum Hydra shot him up with, he can see better in the dark than an average human.

It's eerily silent as he walks through the jungle, looking out for anything or anyone that could pose a threat to him and the rest of the group. It's too quiet, which has him on high alert. Anything could be hiding out here.

Spinning around as he hears rustling behind him, he stops, dropping the stick to the ground as he stares at the man standing a few feet away with his back towards him. He may only be able to see the man's back, but he'd recognize him anywhere.

"Steve?" He asks, watching as the man turns around to face him.

And it very much _is_ Steve. But... something seems different about him, but he just can't pinpoint what exactly.

He goes to walk towards him, but Steve just turns back around and walks off through the trees without a word.

"Wait!" He calls, before breaking into a run after Steve.

Though as he's running, after him, he finds no sign of him anywhere. It's like he disappeared into thin air. He hasn't even left a trail behind to follow.

"Steve!" He calls, running through the trees. "Steve!"

He's not sure how long he's been running for, when something makes him stop. It's that weird ticking and almost mechanical noise again.

Spinning around on the spot, he attempts to try and spot where and what that noise is coming from, but unfortunately he can't see anything that could be the source of the noise.

Until he sees what appears to be a large black pillar of smoke gliding through the trees. Or, at least he thinks that's what that is....

"What the fuck...." He mutters, starting to back away, and thanking whatever gods that might be out there, that that thing - whatever it is - hasn't spotted him. Unless it has, and just isn't bothering to do anything about his presence.

And as soon as he's sure he's as far away from that thing as possible without it spotting him, he breaks out into a run back towards the group.

**XXXX**

Finally making it back to the rest of the group at their makeshift campsite (surprisingly being able to find his way back) after running away from that thing out in the jungle, he stops as he only just notices movement around the small makeshift campsite

Narrowing his eyes a little as he tries to figure out what's going on. Either there's something or someone - possibly whatever that was out in the jungle - stalking around them about to murder them all in their sleep, or one of the group is awake.

And he sure is hoping that it's the latter. He'd much rather it just be one of the others awake.

Or hell, if that _really_ was Steve that he saw out in the jungle - which he's now thinking is unlikely - he's hoping that it could possibly be Steve. But that option seems rather unlikely....

Slowly, he creeps towards them, and as he nears the others, he lets out a sigh in relief as he sees that it's just Boone. Although he can't quite tell what the kid is doing.

"Hey, kid!" He calls, before making his way back to the group. "The hell are you doing?"

Boone jumps at the voice, spinning around. "Where did you come from?"

Bucky looks around, noticing the gun in Boone's hand, and that he appears to be trying to take the magazine for the gun from Sayid.

But before he gets a chance to reply to Boone's question, Sayid wakes.

"What are you doing?" Sayid asks, getting up.

And it doesn't take much longer for the rest of the group to awake too.

Boone looks around, the gun in his hand. "Standing guard." He says. "You heard what they said is out there."

"You took my gun off me, boy?" Sawyer asks, moving closer to Boone, likely to take the gun off Boone, and probably punch the kid while he's at it.

And Bucky puts an arm out to block Sawyer from getting any closer to the kid. "Don't." He warns.

"Please, you've never even held a gun." Shannon says to Boone, then she turns to the group. "He doesn't believe in guns. He's goes on marches."

"I don't go on marches!" Boone says.

"Wait..." Kate looks from Boone to Bucky. "I thought Bucky was supposed to be standing guard?"

"Well I woke up and didn't see him anywhere." Boone says. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"Not take my damn gun is what you weren't supposed to do." Sawyer says.

Bucky gives him a warning look, before shaking his head as he turns to Boone. "I thought I saw something through the trees, and went to go investigate."

"And exactly what did you see?" Sawyer asks.

Truthfully, Bucky isn't entirely sure _what_ he saw, or if he really saw anything at all. He could've sworn that was Steve that he saw, but before he could get to him, he was gone. And then there was what appeared to be a pillar of black smoke gliding through the trees.

But he's not entirely sure if he actually saw what he thinks he did. He very well could've just been seeing things from lack of sleep. He's not exactly had a hell of a lot of sleep since before the crash after all.

And if that really was Steve that he saw out there, then why didn't he come to him?

"Honestly, I don't know." He says, choosing not to mention what he _thinks_ he saw to the others. "If there was anything, it was gone before I could get a good look at it."

"So there is something out there then?" Shannon asks.

"I don't know, but honestly..." He sighs. "I have a gut feeling that there is something out there right now."

He knows for sure that there's something out there in the jungle. There has to be. He's just not entirely sure if it's around right now, but it's very possible that it is.

"Which means one of us should have the gun out." Boone says.

"Boone, give the gun back to me." Sayid says.

"Yeah, give it to Al Jazeera, he'll protect us." Sawyer exclaims.

"Al Jazeera is a network." Charlie says.

Sawyer turns to him. "What?"

"I'll keep the damn gun." Boone says.

"Why doesn't Bucky take it?" Charlie suggests. "I'd think he'd be the most experienced with them."

Bucky looks over at him. While he'd feel much better with a gun right now, he's not entirely sure if the option of him having the gun would be a very popular opinion within the group... _and_ with the rest of the survivors back on the beach if they find out that someone's got a gun.

"Perfect idea, Hobbit. Let's give it to him." Sawyer says. "The one here who's the likeliest to snap and kill us all!"

Bucky looks at him, not at all surprised by his remark. "Seriously?"

He had a feeling that Sawyer wouldn't support the idea of him having the gun. The others, he's not so sure. Charlie seems to support the option of him having it though.

"We should give it to her." Shannon suddenly says, referring to Kate.

And that's an option that Bucky can get behind. Kate should hold onto the gun. "I agree."

"Yeah." Charlie nods in agreement. "Kate should hold the gun."

Sayid nods. "Fine with me." He says, before turning to Boone. "Well?"

Boone hesitates, looking down at the gun, to the group, then to Kate. He sighs, reluctantly handing the gun over to her.

"Good." Bucky nods.

And as the others all sit back down and likely try to get more rest until morning, Bucky looks on out towards the trees. Hoping that whatever is out there - _if_ there's really something out there and he wasn't just seeing things - doesn't come after them....


	8. 05 // You Can't Save Everyone

**_Covers season 1 episode 3_ ** **_;_ ** **_Tabula_ ** **_Rosa_ **

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

As the group returns to the beach, the rest of the survivors are quick to make their way over to them. All of them eager to hear the news that the group has to tell. Unfortunately though, it's not the news that they're wanting to hear.

"As you and the others know, we hiked up the mountain in an attempt to help the rescue team locate us. The transceiver failed to pick up a signal. We weren't able to send out a call for help." Sayid starts.

His words don't appear to settle well with the others, just like Bucky had thought, but at least they've chosen to not tell them the whole truth. If they were to tell them about the French woman's transmission that's been on a loop for sixteen years, it'll cause a large panic. One they might not be able to calm down.

"But we're not giving up. If we gather electronic equipment - your cell phones, laptops - I can boost the signal and we can try again, but that may take some time." Sayid continues. "So for now, we should begin rationing our remaining food. If it rains, we should set up tarps to collect water. I need to organize 3 separate groups. Each group should have a leader. One group for water - I'll organize that. Who's going to organize electronics? You? Rationing food? Okay. And I believe a third group should concern themselves with the construction of...."

Bucky doesn't listen to the rest of what Sayid is talking about, instead he notices the way Kate looks over towards Jack. He guesses she's wanting to tell him about what they heard, and honestly, he thinks that it's probably a good idea for Jack to know about it.

"You gonna tell Jack about what we heard?" He asks her.

Kate looks up at him, nodding. "Yeah, he should know."

He nods. "If we're to tell any of the others, I think Jack should be the one to know."

It makes the most sense for Jack to know. He seems to have already become somewhat of the group leader, or at least a lot of the group seem to think so. So it makes the most sense for him to know as well.

"Hi." Kate says, as she and Bucky walk over to Jack.

"Hey." Jack says, looking between them.

Kate looks to Bucky, then to Jack. "We, um, we need to tell you something."

"Okay, sure." Jack nods.

"We couldn't send out a signal because there was another signal blocking it." Kate explains. "The other signal - we heard it. It was a distress call from a French woman. She said that the others were dead - something had killed them all."

"But the thing is... it's been playing on repeat for _sixteen years_." Bucky says.

"We thought it would be best to tell you." Kate says.

Jack looks taken aback by this news. "There anything else?"

Bucky shakes his head. "Aside from the fact we almost got attacked by a polar bear, nothing."

He decides it would be best to not mention to him what he thinks he saw. For now at least.

"Polar bear?" Jack asks, looking between them.

"Yeah." Kate nods. "Polar bear."

"What is polar bear doing here?" Jack questions.

Bucky shakes his head. "Just another mystery about this island." He says, before looking around. "There's something off about this island."

He can feel it inside him that there's something strange about this island, and not just the fact that there's a polar bear - probably more than just the one that Sawyer killed - the fact that the French woman's signal has been on a loop for sixteen years with no one coming for her, or that there's something out there in the jungle. There's just something _very_ off about this place.

"How do you mean by off?" Jack asks.

"Honestly, I don't know." Bucky says. "I just have this weird feeling that there's something very off about this place. I hope I'm wrong, but... I don't think this is just any old island."

**XXXX**

"I've never seen anything this complicated before." Sayid says, as he gets a good look at the inside of Bucky's left arm. "The mechanics aren't anything I've ever seen before."

It's later in the afternoon now, and Bucky is sitting with Sayid out on the sand as Sayid gets a look at the inside of his bionic arm.

Bucky laughs, shaking his head. "Imagine how complicated it must look to me." He says. "The time period I grew up in, there was nothing like this. At least nothing that was released to the public."

"Unfortunately I'm not sure I can figure out what exactly is wrong." Sayid apologises. "Nor am I sure where to begin."

Bucky nods, he didn't really expect Sayid to be able to do much to help, but it was worth a shot anyway. Besides, it's not malfunctioning to the point where it's unusable, so he can easily go about with how it is.

"I can manage it how it is if there's nothing you can do." He says, before frowning. "Although I'm surprised that it's actually malfunctioning at all. My previous ones I get - they've malfunctioned and were destroyed many times - but this one... I don't get it."

This has never happened with this arm before. It's never started to do anything close to malfunctioning. So why now? He guesses it's because of the crash, but the arm has taken a lot of blows over the years he's had it and they'd barely leave a scratch on it.

"What did you say it's made out of?" Sayid asks.

"Vibranium. The strongest metal on earth. Wakanda has a whole mine full of the stuff, it's why they're tech is so advanced." Bucky says. "Not sure on the gears inside exactly, but Wakandan tech is much more advanced than anywhere else. This arm shouldn't be malfunctioning."

Unless there's something about this island that's causing it? As insane as it may sound. But there's something very off about this island, so it's a possible reason as to what's causing it, even if it does sound crazy.

"So... how'd you learn all of this?" He asks, changing the subject.

He's curious about how Sayid seems to know a lot about fixing a lot of equipment like the transceiver and other tech stuff.

"I was a communications officer in the Gulf war." Sayid says, stopping, before he adds. "In the Republican Guard."

"Your were a soldier?" Bucky asks.

It doesn't quite surprise him to hear that he was a soldier. He seems the type to have had some form of military training and expertise.

"Yes." Sayid nods.

"Can't say I know much about the Gulf war, but... I know first hand how bad war is." Bucky says. "Sergeant James Barnes of the 107th... then Hydra's weapon and personal bitch...."

"I can't imagine you were treated very well when Hydra had you." Sayid says. "From what I've read about you and what they did, it doesn't sound pleasant."

Sighing, Bucky shakes his head. "None of it was pleasant." He says. "I've done things no one should ever have to do. I still remember the faces of everyone I was ordered to kill."

Sayid looks at him sympathetically. "I know the feeling." He says. "I've... interrogated and tortured many people. I'll never be able to forget any of them."

Bucky nods, looking down at the sand. He likes Sayid, and he's sure that he's going to get on very well with him. Not to mention that he's quite possibly one of the only people he's encountered that he can relate to in a way. Although their situations weren't exactly the same.

"Sayid... you know how last night while we were still out in the jungle?" Bucky asks after a bit of silence between them as Sayid closes up his arm. "I may have lied when I didn't see anything out there."

He figures that it might be best if he tells Sayid what he saw - or what he _thinks_ he saw - out in the jungle last night.

Sayid looks at him. "What do you mean?"

Bucky sighs. "I heard something out there, the same noise we heard on the first night here, just not as violent." He starts. "When I went into the jungle to go investigate, I could've sworn that I saw Steve. But before I could get to him he was gone. I could've sworn it was him."

He sighs, wishing like all hell that it was Steve that he saw out there. But unfortunately, it more than likely was not Steve, and he was probably just seeing things.

"As I chased after him, I saw what looked like a pillar of black smoke gliding through the trees." He continues. "I don't know if that's what I really saw, but... it sure as hell looked like it."

"A pillar of black smoke?" Sayid asks, his confusion clear.

Bucky nods. "Sounds crazy, I know - and I've seen crazy - and I may have just been seeing things from lack of sleep, but..." He sighs, shaking his head. "But there's something strange about this place. Something's not right here."

**XXXX**

Three days have passed since the crash, and still no signs of rescue. But it's _only_ been three days, Bucky's not going to be so quick to give up hope that they'll come, despite what was discovered yesterday. There's still the chance that rescue will still come.

And there's always hope that the Avengers back home are trying to track them down. Bucky's sure that they'll be trying to track them down, they wouldn't just abandon him and Steve. That's just not their style.

He stands in front of the fuselage. He really needs to have a look inside, preferably before it starts to stink even more than it already does. But... if Steve's in there, he's sure to be dead by now. But he's still gotta find his luggage, which is hopefully inside.

And if he can't find Steve, at least he can try and find their luggage.

Taking a deep breath, he climbs inside. The smell is even worse inside than it is outside. They should really do something about the bodies instead of leaving them to rot.

He looks around, trying not to trip over everything, or standing on anything that he doesn't fancy standing on.

Unfortunately - or maybe luckily - none of the bodies are Steve. He's not sure if he should take that as a good thing or not that he's not one of the dead bodies in here. But it brings up the question of if he's not inside the fuselage, then where is he?

So with having no luck in finding Steve, he searches for their luggage. And maybe a few other things that might be of use. Stealing from the dead... not a very good thing, but it's not like he's never stolen anything before.

Besides, it's not like the dead have any use for anything anymore.

Maybe he can even find some medicine that Jack may have a use for. He's sure the guy would appreciate that.

Amongst the chaos inside, he manages to make it over to his and Steve's seats, along the way finding a few packs of cigarettes and some lighters.

He's not smoked in years, but he takes them anyway. No harm in taking up smoking once more if it doesn't affect him like it would a normal human. And quite honestly, he needs something to help him keep calm while here, and smoking might just do the trick.

Keyword being ' _might'_. He doesn't know for sure if it'll help, but it's something.

And as he searches around his and Steve seats, he finds both his and Steve's carry on bags. So there's a win in here after all. But he's still missing the rest of his luggage. For now though, he's just glad that he's found _some_ of his and Steve's luggage.

Though he hopes he's able to find one of his other bags that has his gun inside soon. He'd hate for anyone else to find it before he does and go looking through it.

As he's shoving the few extras he's managed to find into one of the bags, he stops as there's movement fro inside the fuselage behind him.

He almost has a heart attack thinking that it's the dead rising, but he's relieved to find that it's _just_ Sawyer. Then again, maybe he would've preferred zombies over that dick....

"What are you doing in here, Sawyer?" Bucky asks, getting the guy's attention.

"Looking for some goodies." Sawyer says, and Bucky notices the bag he's carrying and the way he's chucking stuff into it. "You?"

Well, Bucky can't really complain about the guy stealing from the dead. He did exactly that too.

"Looking for my luggage. And Steve, but... he's not here." He says. "I don't know if that's reassuring or not. Found some of our luggage though."

"Steve?" Sawyer asks. "Well, hell. I think there's a Steve out on the beach."

Bucky shakes his head. "Not the Steve I'm looking for."

He wasn't aware that there's another Steve out on the beach. But unfortunately, he knows it to not be his Steve. If it was, they'd already be back together by now.

"Right..." Sawyer nods. "Captain America I take it then. So are the rumors true?"

Bucky turns to look at him, giving him his full attention. "Rumors?" He asks. "What rumors?"

He's not aware of any rumors. What rumors?

"That you and ol' Cap are a thing." Sawyer says. "So, they true?"

Oh... _that_. Actually, Bucky wasn't aware that that's still up to debate. They've never kept their relationship a secret before, but they've also never really talked about it either.

"Uh, yeah.... Have been since we were sixteen." He says. "I didn't know it was still up to speculation. Thought everyone knew already, as we've not exactly kept it much of a secret."

Sawyer nods. "Well the press says different." He says. "But I guess you can't always trust 'em."

Bucky can definitely agree with that. He hardly trusts what any of the press say half of the time. Not to mention they constantly lie about him, and always have something negative to say about him.

They don't say much else to each other as they both get back to searching through everything, taking what they deem useful - or at least in Bucky's case....

Bucky doesn't find much else aside from a couple more packs of cigarettes and a couple lighters - which he stuffs in one of his bags.

He also finds some medicine - which he plans on giving to Jack once he gets out of there.

Speaking of Jack.... Bucky turns, looking over towards the opening of the fuselage to find Jack standing there, shining a torch around.

"Boo." Sawyer says, flashing the light of his torch at Jack, catching the guy's attention.

"Hey, Jack." Bucky says.

Jack looks between the pair of them. "What are you two doing in here?"

"Trick or treat, same as you." Sawyer says.

Bucky rolls his eyes at Sawyer's reply. "He's looting." He says. "I'm looking for my things."

"Hey, you're looting too, Cyborg." Sawyer says. "I saw you bag those smokes."

The nickname causes Bucky to raise an eye at him. "Cyborg?" He asks, before shaking his head. "Anyway... it ain't like they're able to use them anymore."

Well, it's definitely not a lie. The dead won't be able to use any of it at all, so why just leave it going to waste?

"Ooo, right you are there." Sawyer says. "The dead have no use for any of the crap in here. Might as well come and see what's still good enough to take."

"What's in the bag, Sawyer?" Jack asks.

Sawyer looks through his bag. "Booze, smokes, couple of Playboys." He says. "What's in yours?"

"Medicine." Jack says.

Sawyer chuckles. "Well, that about sums it up, don't it?"

"Do you do this back home, too - steal from the dead?" Jack asks.

"Brother, you've gotta wake up and smell the bull crap here, rescue ain't comin'. You're just wasting your time." Sawyer says. "You're trying to save a guy who last time I checked had a piece of metal the size of my head sticking out of his bread basket. Let me ask you something? How many of those pills are you going to use to fix him up?"

"As many as it takes." Jack says.

"Yeah? How many you got?" Sawyer asks. "You're just not looking at the big picture, Doc. You're still back in civilization." He says. "I'm sure Bucky gets it, right?"

Bucky doesn't give him an answer, but yes. He _does_ get it.

"Yeah?" Jack asks. "And where are you?"

"Me?" Sawer asks, getting up. "I'm in the wild."

And without saying another word, he's walking out, leaving Jack and Bucky behind.

Sighing, Bucky makes his way over to Jack. "He's a dick, but he has a point. Rescue doesn't seem to be coming anytime soon." He says. "And to tell you the truth... it might be best to put the man with the shrapnel out of his misery. I don't like the sound of it, but there's not much other choice."

He doesn't like it, but it's the best option. Put the guy with the shrapnel out of his misery, as it's not likely that he's going to last much longer. Maybe if he was in a hospital instead of stranded on some island, sure, but he's not in the hospital.

And quite honestly, using as much of what little medicine they have on the guy, just seems like it would be a waste.

Jack sighs, shaking his head. "You might be right, but I'm going to do all I can to save him."

Bucky sighs, nodding. He respects that Jack is willing to try and save the guy, but he himself has little hope that the guy is going to make it out alive. Not without proper medical care anyway.

"By the way, I found some medicine that I believe could be useful." He says, remembering the medicine that he had found. "It's not a lot, but seeing as you're a doctor an' all, I think you should be the ones to have them."

Jack nods, taking the bottles and packs of medicine from Bucky, placing them into his own bag. "Thank you."

Bucky nods, smiling. "You're welcome." He says, before he's leaving Jack alone in the fuselage.

**XXXX**

"Hey, Jack." Bucky sys, walking over to Jack.

It's much later on in the night now, and well... things aren't sounding too good for the man with the shrapnel in his side. His suffering can be heard all along the beach, and it's starting to put the rest of the survivors on edge.

Jack looks over at him, before turning back to look out at the ocean. "Hey."

Bucky looks towards the makeshift infirmary tent. "How's the guy in there?"

"Not looking good." Jack sighs. "He should be in a hospital."

"You're doing the best you can, Jack." Bucky says. "But you can't save everyone. Believe me."

He knows firsthand that you can't save everyone. You can only save as much as you can. It's kind of in the job description for being a part of the Avengers - even if he's not necessarily one. And he'd guess it's the same for being a doctor too.

There'll always be casualties, ones you can't save. You can only do the best that you can.

Both Bucky and Jack turn to find that big guy walking over to them. Bucky's not sure what his name is.

"Hey." The guy says.

"Hi, I uh... don't believe I got your name." Bucky says.

"It's Hurley." The guy - Hurley - says.

Bucky nods. "Well hi, Hurley. I'm Bucky."

Hurley nods, smiling at him, before he turns to Jack. "Yo, Jack so... where's the fugitive?"

 _Fugitive?_ They know who the fugitive is? He's got his suspicions on who it may be (Sawyer), but it could very well be anyone.

"Fugitive?" He asks.

Hurley seems to realize his mistake, as Bucky notices the look Jack gives him. "Oh, crap..." He sighs. "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Bucky asks, looking between Jack and Hurley.

Jack sighs. "Kate." He says. "She's the fugitive."

 _Kate_ is the fugitive? Nw that's not what he was expecting.... Though now that he thinks about it, she seemed a little on edge yesterday when Sawyer had said there was a US Marshall on board.

"Huh... Thought it seemed like there was something she wasn't telling." He says. "Was expecting that the fugitive would be Sawyer." He admits. "You know what she did?"

Now he can't help but find himself rather curious about what she had done. Though it's not his place to know. Doesn't make him any less curious though.

Jack shakes his head. "No."

"So where is she?" Hurley asks.

"She's the In the tent." Jack says, indicating to the infirmary tent behind them.

Hurley looks surprised as he looks towards the tent. "Dude, you let her in there _alone_?"

"What's she going to do?" Jack asks. "She's 120 pounds soaking wet."

"Yeah, but she's got that gun." Hurley says, which catches Jack by surprise.

Jack turns to him. "What?"

"She's strapped, man. I saw it in her... in her..." Hurley trails off.

Bucky sighs, shaking his head. Maybe he should've mentioned the gun to Jack....

"Yeah... I probably should've mentioned that Sawyer had a gun on him while we were out in the jungle." He tells Jack. "It's how we got rid of the polar bear. We thought it'd be best for Kate to hold it."

Jack looks at him, about to say something, but seems to decide against it as he runs off towards the tent.

"Dude, there's _polar bears_ out in the jungle?" Hurley asks.

Bucky looks at him. "Sounds crazy, but yeah."

"You think they were what was knocking down the trees?" Hurley asks.

"Unfortunately... no." Bucky shakes his head. "Unless polar bears make a ticka-ticka sound."

He very much doubts that it was polar bears that were knocking down the trees. He's not sure if they're strong enough to do so. But then again, polar bears shouldn't be anywhere near a tropical island.

"Crap..." Hurley mutters. "Well then maybe it is dinosaurs."

Bucky looks at him, clearly confused. " _Dinosaurs?_ "

Now that's just insane. Dinosaurs? Then again... anything could be possible here now come to think about it. He still feels there's something off about this island, so _maybe_ dinosaurs wouldn't be so far fetched.

"You know, like Jurassic Park." Hurley says.

Before Bucky gets the chance to reply, they hear a gunshot coming from the infirmary tent.

They see Kate walking away from the tent, but she's not holding the gun, so Bucky's not entirely sure if she was the one to shoot the guy.

But if he's not mistaken, that guy must've been the US Marshall, so it would make sense for Kate to shoot him.

Though they soon find that Kate wasn't the one to shoot the guy as Sawyer walks out of the tent with the gun.

"What did you do?" Jack shouts at him.

"What you couldn't." Sawyer says. "Look, I get where you're coming from being a doctor and all, but he wanted it. Hell, he asked me. So, I don't like it any more than you do, but something had to be done."

He may have a point, Bucky knows that, and at least the guy isn't suffering now. Or at least he had hoped, as the sound of choking can be heard from the infirmary tent.

"Son of a bitch...." Bucky mutters.

"Oh, no way." Hurley says. "Guys?"

Bucky follows Jack and Sawyer to the tent, standing outside behind Sawyer as Jack goes straight into the tent. And what they find in the tent isn't very good. The guy is choking on his own blood. Wherever Sawyer had shot him, it didn't kill him.

"You shot him in the chest?" Jack shouts, turning to Sawyer, who's just standing there watching.

"I was... I was aiming for his heart." Sawyer says.

"Well you missed." Jack says.

"Oh, man, is he still breathing?" Hurley asks, from next to Bucky.

Bucky turns to him, pushing him back out of the way a little. "Just stay back, man." He says. "Jack's got this."

"You perforated his lung." Bucky hears Jack tell Sawyer. "It'll take _hours_ to bleed out."

"So what is..." Sawyer trails off. "I only had one bullet."

"Get out. Get out!" Jack shouts, which luckily, Sawyer does, leaves and walks off down the beach.

Bucky takes this as he and Hurley should leave as well and leave Jack to take care of it. And by the look on Hurley's face, he thinks it's probably for the best if Hurley leaves.

"Hurley, come on." He says, pushing Hurley away from the tent. "Let Jack take care of it."

Hurley nods, following Bucky away from the tent. "Oh boy...."

And not that long after, the choking in the tent ceases, and nothing can be heard coming from the tent anymore.

The first casualty on the island. And truthfully, it's likely not going to be the last.

**XXXX**

"You did all you could, Jack." Bucky says, walking over to where Jack is standing by a freshly dug grave. The US Marshall's dead body already inside.

It's the next day, and by now the whole camp knows what had happened last night. That the man with the shrapnel that Jack had been trying to save for the past three days is dead.

At least the guy isn't suffering anymore.

Jack sighs, shaking his head. "It wasn't enough though." He says. "He _needed_ proper medical care."

Bucky sighs, nodding. He's right. The guy needed proper medical care, what they have, isn't enough. They should've been rescued by now, and the guy should've been in a hospital where he potentially could've survived. But knowing what they heard on the transceiver, it might be a long while before rescue arrives.

And truthfully, Bucky doesn't think that this is the only person they'll have to bury while here. He doesn't admit it to Jack though.

"You can't save everyone, Jack." He says. " No matter how hard you try."

Jack doesn't reply, just stands in front of the grave, not saying anything. And Bucky stands with him. He didn't know the guy at all, but it's tragic what happened to him, and the only good thing about all this, is that he's no longer in pain and suffering.

_"At least he's not in pain anymore."_


	9. 06 // Burn

**_Covers season 1 episode 4; Walkabout_ **

Bucky lays out on the sand staring at the stars, enjoying the cool night air and the sound of the waves crashing onto the sand at the shore. A peaceful night so far on this damn island, and even though Bucky feels there's something off about this place, he can't help but enjoy this.

Of course, he'd much prefer if Steve were there with him, but he's still not found him. He hopes Steve is out there somewhere alive and not dead. He's got to believe he is. He's not sure if he can face the idea that Steve may be dead.

Looking over down the beach where the majority of the survivors have made camp, Bucky sits up. The dog - that appears to belong to the young child - has started barking at something. Something that has just made a loud crashing sound inside the fuselage.

“Oh, that can’t be good…” Bucky mutters, getting up and jogging off towards where everyone else is gathered near the fuselage.

By the sound of things, there’s something or someone inside. Who or what it is though, no one knows. Nor does anyone dare to make a move to investigate yet.

“What is it?” Kate asks, moving just a little closer, before stopping as another crash can be heard.

“Somebody's in there.” The pregnant woman says. Bucky is still unsure of her name.

Sayid shakes his head. “Everyone in there's dead.”

Sayid is right. Everything's in there _is_ dead. But even though everyone inside is dead, there's clearly something inside the fuselage.

Bucky suspects it might just be some animal, or maybe Sawyer. Then again, maybe the dead have risen, but that seems a little unlikely.

But even so, if they’re now going to be faced with flesh eating zombies… it won’t be the weirdest thing he’s ever seen. And just maybe, judging by the fact that something feels very off about this island, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch.

“It’s Sawyer.” Jack says, trying to assure everyone that there’s nothing to worry about.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t come as much assurance as Bucky looks around, finding Sawyer standing right behind Jack. Which means that whatever is inside, is definitely _not_ Sawyer.

“Right behind you, Jackass.” Sawyer says.

Slowly, Bucky starts to head towards the fuselage, figuring it would be best if he goes to take a look and see what’s in there. “I’m gonna check it out.” He says.

“Be careful.” Charlie warns.

Bucky ignores him, and moves closer. Unfortunately he can’t quite see a hell of a lot, even when his eyesight is good in the dark due to the serum. A little more light on whatever it is would be of great help.

He looks behind him, at no one in particular. Hoping that someone has a torch or something. “Someone shine a light on it.” He says, looking back towards the fuselage. “I can’t see much.”

Fortunately, Jack has a flashlight, and shines it towards the fuselage as he makes his way forwards. Sawyer follows behind with a bigger flashlight.

Both Kate and Charlie follow along behind them, but stay back a but more than Sawyer and Jack.

With the new lighting, Bucky slowly walks inside with Jack and Sawyer following behind with the flashlights. There’s a shadow of something moving around in the darkness, but Bucky can’t quite make out what it is, and it seems Jack and Sawyer can’t quite tell either.

“I'm gonna shed some light on this bitch.” Sawyer says.

“Wait!” Bucky warns, as he and Jack attempt to stop him from shining the light of the flashlight directly on whatever it is inside. Unfortunately they’re not quick enough and Sawyer shines the light directly on the thing.

It’s an animal, that much is clear, as it looks over towards them, before it starts to charge at them.

“Run!” Jack shouts.

As not one, but _three_ animals run out, everyone starts to run towards safety. Bucky doesn’t get a good look at what sort of animal they are, as he runs and jumps out of the way, managing to climb up onto the fuselage for safety.

He watches from atop the fuselage as everyone runs off into different directions on the beach. He notices that someone has knocked Charlie over, and he's instantly jumping down from the top of the fuselage and running to help Charlie up.

"You alright?" Bucky asks, noticing the scrape on Charlie's side from where he had fallen.

"Yeah." Charlie nods as he stands, leaning on Bucky a little.

Bucky nods, glad that the kid is okay. He's not known Charlie for very long, but he'd hate for anything bad to happen to him. And he's going to make sure nothing happens to Charlie and any of the other survivors.

Looking around, he finds that the animals - which from what he can tell in the dark, appear to be some sort of pig - are running off towards the jungle.

“They're gone.” Sayid says, as he and everyone rise come out of hiding as soon as the animals are gone.

“What the bloody hell was that?” Charlie asks.

“Boars.” An older bald guy says, looking rather excited about their late night intruders.

**XXXX**

Bucky stands in the medical tent with Sayid and Kate next to him watching as Jack fixes up the scrape on Charlie's side. Luckily Charlie's wound isn't too bad, but Jack's got to take care of it to ward off any infection.

"Those boars were looking to feed." Jack says as he fixes up Charlie's wound. "We have to get rid of the bodies."

Bucky looks over his shoulder towards the fuselage. It's the fifth day here and the bodies are still routing away inside. They need to do something about them before more animals come looking for food.

"Bury them?" Charlie asks. "There's a whole bunch in there."

"More than twenty." Sayid says. "Digging will be difficult without shovels."

"We're not burying them." Jack shakes his head. "We need to burn them."

Bucky looks at him, raising an eyebrow at Jack's words. " _Burn_ them?"

He's not so keen on the idea, but without shovels to busy the bodies… it doesn't seem like they've really got any other option. They could always make shovels though, he's sure that they've got some scraps from the plane to make some. But then again, burning them would be much quicker.

"They're _people_ , Jack." Kate says.

"I _know_ they're people, Kate." Jack says.

"Burning the remains... they deserve better than that." Sayid says, clearly not on board with what Jack is suggesting.

And if it weren't for the fact that they've got no other option, then Bucky won't be so on board with it either. In fact he's not really on board, but what other choice do they have?

"Better than what? Being eaten by wild animals? Because that's what's going to happen. Any bodies we bury are not going to stay buried for very long." Jack says "Look, I know this seems harsh, but that fuselage in the sun—it's not about what they deserve. They're gone, and we're not."

_They're gone, and we're not._

They've got to worry about the people who are still alive after the crash. There isn't anything they can do for the dead now, except get rid of their bodies. Even _if_ it's not in a very ideal way.

Bucky doesn't see a better option here. He may not like it, but this is what they have to do.

"I don't like it anymore than you do, but I’m gonna have to agree with Jack. Unless you have a better option." He says. "And like you said, Sayid, digging won’t be easy without shovels."

"What you say may be true, but for us to decide how these people are laid to rest—it's not right." Sayid says. "No regard for their wishes? Their religions?"

Sayid has a point, Bucky knows this, and he's sure Jack does too, but they've got to worry about the ones living, not the dead. And they don't have much time to figure out anything about the dead to even begin to respect their wishes. Bucky isn't even sure they can figure that out at all.

"We don't have time to sort out everybody's god." Jack says.

"Really, last I heard we were positively made of time." Charlie says.

Bucky shakes his head. "In this heat it won't take long for the bodies in there to start to decompose and start to smell." He says. "We need to get rid of the bodies as fast as we possibly can."

He doesn't exactly fancy having the stink of rotting corpses to marinate in the sun for much longer and stink out the beach. And he's sure the others will agree. But if they don't dispose of the bodies quick, then that's exactly what's going to happen.

"Look, I'm not happy about it either, but we crashed a thousand miles off course. They're looking for us in the wrong place. It's been 4 days, no one's come." Jack says. "Tomorrow morning we need everyone to start gathering up wood, dried brush, and turn that fuselage into a furnace. Wait until the sun goes down tomorrow night before we start the fire."

With all that said, Jack is exiting the medical tent, leaving the others to stand there in silence.

”If he's so eager to burn the bodies why are we waiting until sundown?” Charlie asks, being the first to break the silence over Jack has left.

"He's hoping someone will see it." Kate says.

Bucky nods. Jack doesn't just want to set the fuselage on fire to dispose of the bodies, but to use it as a large signal fire for any passing boats, ships, or planes to see.

**XXXX**

A commotion down the beach is the first thing that Bucky wakes up to. Not really something he's very happy about, but there's not much he can do about it.

Getting up off the sand, he looks down the beach towards where it appears Sawyer and Hurley are arguing about something. What they're arguing about, he can't quite tell, but it appears to be over a backpack that Sawyer is carrying from what he can tell.

Seeing off into a run, Bucky makes his way down the beach, catching up with Jack and Sayid who are also running towards Sawyer and Hurley, likely running to separate the two before things start to get violent.

“Guys, knock it off!” Jack shouts, as he runs towards Sawyer and Hurley with Bucky and Sayid running along down the beach beside him. "Knock it off!"

“Stay out of this, Metro!” Sawyer warns.

Bucky grabs onto Sawyer as Sayid gets Hurley to move away from him. Luckily Sayid has better kick in pulling Hurley away from Sawyer, but Bucky has a bit more difficulty keeping Sawyer away. At least in a way that won't hurt the guy….

“What's going on?” Jack asks, once Bucky and Sayid have both Sawyer and Hurley separated.

“Jethro here's hoarding the last of the peanuts!” Hurley says.

“My own stash. I found it in there.” Sawyer says, shaking his arms out of Bucky's hold, before pointing off in the direction of the fuselage.

“What about the rest of the food?” Jack asks.

“There is _“no rest of the food”_ , dude.” Hurley says. “We kind of… ate it all.”

“What?” Shannon asks, as more and more of the survivors begin gathering around.

The gathered survivors begin to fret over how they're supposed to survive with no food now that there is none. And as Bucky heads this, he begins to wonder if some of them have seemed to forget that they've crashed on a beach. Where there's an ocean full of fish….

Then again, they've got nothing to catch the fish with. But it's not like it's not too difficult to put together a spear or something to catch the fish with.

"Is everyone forgetting that there's an ocean full of fish? It's not like there's absolutely no food here at all." He says. "We'll just have to make some makeshift fishing rods."

He's sure they can easily put together something to catch fish with. It's not like it's impossible. And as a matter of fact, he thinks he's seen that Korean guy catching fish down the beach.

"And exactly _what_ are we supposed to catch the fish with?" Someone in the crowd asks.

Bucky scans through the crowd before his eyes land on the guy who spoke. "It's not that difficult to put together something to fish with." He says. "Also, if you don't want to try that, then I'm sure there's gotta be some fruit trees in the jungle. We just need to go off and find it."

He's sure there's plenty of fruit trees and plants out in the jungle. How else do those boars and polar bears get food? It's highly likely that there's food out there.

As the majority of the group starts to panic, Jack tries to get them to calm down, unfortunately it doesn't really work very well. “Okay everybody, just calm down.”

“We can find food.” Sayid says, trying to assure everyone that it'll be okay. “There are plenty of things on this Island we can use for sustenance.”

Sawyer scoffs, taking a seat on one of the airplane seats littered across the beach. “And exactly _how_ are we going to find this sustenance?”

And just as he sits down, there a knife being thrown in his direction. Though luckily or unluckily - depending on how you look at it - the knife doesn't hit Sawyer, but in the seat next to him.

“We hunt.” An older bald guy says, as everyone turns their attention towards him.

Bucky whistles, clearly impressed by the guy’s throw. He wasn't expecting the throw or the knife to cover from that guy. In fact, he's not sure anyone was.

“Nice throw.” He says. “Though, I think you may have missed the target.”

He glances over at Sawyer to find him staring eyes narrowed. But all Bucky gives him is a shrug.

“How'd you get that knife on the plane?” Kate asks.

“Checked it.” The bald guy says.

Jack grabs the knife out of the seat, handing it back to the guy. “You either have very good aim, or very bad aim, Mr…”

“Locke.” A darker skinned man - Bucky is unsure what his name is - says. “His name is Locke.”

Jack nods. “Okay Mr. Locke, what is it that we're hunting?”

“We know there are wild boar on the Island. Razorbacks, by the look of them. The ones that came into the camp last night were piglets, 100, 150 pounds each. Which means that there's a mother nearby. A 250 pound rat, with scimitar-like tusks, and a surly disposition, who'd love nothing more than to eviscerate anything that comes near.” The man, Locke explains. “Boar's usual mode of attack is to circle around and charge from behind so I figure it'll take at least three of us to distract her long enough for me to flank one of the piglets, pin it, and slit its throat.”

Bucky finds himself impressed by this guy. He seems to know exactly what he's talking about. It sounds like the guy has fine quite a bit of hunting in his time, and if they've got a skilled hunter amongst them, then maybe they'll be alright stuck here until rescue comes.

That is, if rescue ever comes….

“And you gave him his knife back?” Sawyer asks, looking pointedly at Jack.

“Well, if you've got a better idea…” Jack says.

“Better than the three of you wandering into the magic forest to bag a hunk of ham with nothing but a little bitty hunting knife?” Sawyer asks. “Hell no, it's the best idea I ever heard.”

And at Sawyer's words, Locke is opening the case at his feet, turning it around towards the group to reveal that it's full of knives.

“Who is this guy?” Hurley asks.

“Damn…” Bucky says, walking closer to examine the guy's collection more. And he’s certainly impressed. “Nice collection.”

Yep. Bucky thinks they'll do just fine in finding food.

**XXXX**

Locke had offered Bucky a place in the hunting party with him, Kate, and Michael - the darker skinned man whose name Bucky was unsure of - to catch one of the boars, but he had declined his offer. As much as he would’ve liked to go off on a hunt, he just wasn’t feeling it at present. But he’s definitely up for going hunting some other time… depending on how long they’ll all be stuck on this island.

So for now, he’s chosen to just sit by himself near his poorly constructed tent. He should really fix up his shelter to make it more secure, but he just doesn’t have the motivation to do so. He didn’t exactly choose to take very good pieces of the plane to create his shelter, he left that to the others. Better they take the better pieces and have more secure shelter than him.

Besides, what’s the use in him having decent shelter when he doesn’t exactly sleep under it at night, but right outside it? He mostly just uses it to keep what little of his and Steve’s belongings that he’s managed to find. It’s the main reason why it’s so poorly constructed.

Looking up, he notices the young pregnant girl making her way over to him, dragging behind two suitcases. “Um, hi.” She starts, stopping in front of him nervously. “You’re Bucky Barnes, right?”

Bucky nods. “Yeah.” He says. “Something wrong?”

He stands, thinking she needs help with something, and if she does, then he’ll gladly offer his help. Though as he gets a better look at the two suitcases she’s dragging behind her, he recognizes them as his and Steve’s luggage.

She shakes her head. “No, but I um... I found your luggage, and Steve Rogers’s luggage.” She explains. “I thought I’d come over and give them to you.”

Bucky nods, smiling as he takes the suitcases from her, putting it with his and Steve’s carry on bags. Since that's the last of his and Steve’s missing luggage, he’ll have to check to see if his gun is still in his suitcase. Not that it’ll be of much use without a lot of ammo. He may carry a gun with him at all times, but he never keeps it loaded, or keeps a lot of ammo with him. So it’s not going to be very useful when it comes to defence.

But at least it’s something, and if there’s anyone here that he’s giving his full protection more than anyone else, it’ll be this pregnant girl he’s just met and doesn’t yet know her name. He won’t let anything happen to her.

“Thank you.” He says.

“You’re welcome.” The girl smiles. “I’m Claire by the way.”

Bucky nods. He knows her name now. _Claire_. “Thank you, Claire.” He says. “You want to sit for a bit? I could use the company.”

In truth, he would rather just sit by himself, but he’d like to maybe know a bit about Claire. And he honestly wouldn’t mind her company.

“Um, sure.” She nods, and Bucky helps her get herself seated on the sand.

“How far along are you?” He asks, taking a seat on the sand next to her.

“I’m eight months.” She says. “Nearly nine.”

Nodding, Bucky feels sorry for her to be stuck here while eight, nearly nine months pregnant. This isn’t the place she should be, and at this rate, it’s likely that she may end up having the baby here. Considering rescue doesn’t seem to be coming any time soon. _Especially_ after hearing that someone else was stranded here for sixteen years with no rescue, it appears that any rescue for them won’t be turning up in a hurry.

“You know what it is?” He asks.

Claire looks down at her stomach, resting a hand on it. “No, but... I think it might be a boy.”

“So, was your partner on the plane, or?” Bucky asks, not quite sure how to ask if he had someone on the plane who didn’t make it or not.

“No, I’m not married.” She shakes her head, frowning. “The baby’s father walked out months ago.” She says. “I was uh… I was going to put the baby up for adoption. But now…. I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

Nodding, Bucky looks away. Claire doesn’t know that it’s likely that rescue won’t be coming anytime soon. No one does except the ones who went into the jungle to try and send out a distress signal on the transceiver and Jack.

They had decided that it would be best not to tell the others, but Bucky thinks they’ve begun to question why no one has come by now. Because rescue _should_ have come by now.

And until rescue comes - if it ever does - Bucky is going to do everything in his power to mae sure nothing happens to Claire and her child.

“Claire. If there’s ever anything you need, anything at all…” He starts. “Don’t hesitate to come find me, and whatever you need, I’ll help you.”

She looks up at him, smiling appreciatively. “Thank you, Bucky.”

“You’re welcome.” Bucky says.

He really doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her, and he’s going to make damn sure that nothing ever does. Claire and her child - and everyone else - are under his protection until rescue comes.

“So um… some of us are planning on saying a few words later tonight for the dead.” Claire says after a while of the two of them just sitting in silence. “I was wondering if you wanted to maybe say something?” She asks. “About Steve?”

Bucky sighs, looking out towards the ocean. What Claire and the others are planning sounds like a good thing to do for the dead, and while he’d like to be there for it, he’s not sure if he can bring himself to say anything about Steve. He doesn’t believe that Steve is dead, but…. 

“I’m not sure I can bring myself to say a few words about Steve. I don’t believe he’s dead either, but I can’t find him either.” He says. “But… I’d like to be for that.”

**XXXX**

As Claire lists off the names of the dead and says a few things about them from what he can gather from passports and belongings, Bucky stands back watching. He admires her thoughtfulness to do something like this for the deceased. It’s the least any of them can really do if they’ve got no choice but to burn their remains.

“Steve Rogers…” Claire says, getting Bucky’s full attention. “Um.... I’m sure most people know him as Captain America.”

She looks over towards Bucky, sending him a questioning look whether he wants to come say a few words or not.

And even though he wasn’t necessarily planning on saying anything, he walks up anyway, standing next to Claire. Although, he’s not sure what he should say. He guesses he should start with why he and Steve were travelling in the first place? That seems like the best way to go, and so he decides to just go for it.

“Uh, I wasn’t… planning on saying anything, but…. Steve and I... we were on a much needed holiday from just, everything and the Avengers.” He starts. “We had decided to spend six months travelling around New Zealand and Australia. We were on our way back to the States, having finished our holiday when the plane went down.”

He stops, looking around at the gathered survivors. He’s not the greatest when it comes to speaking in front of crowds no matter how big or small, so this is a bit difficult for him. At least, he’s the best at speaking to crowds these days….

“Thing is... I don’t believe Steve is dead. I feel it in my heart that he’s still alive somewhere on this island, where, I have no idea. But I’ve looked everywhere in the jungle, along the beach, and inside the fuselage, and he’s nowhere to be seen.” He continues. “I guess, he ended up on the tail section of the plane somehow during the flight, and that’s why I can’t find him. But even if he ended up on the tail section, I don’t believe he had died. Something inside me tells me that he’s still alive, and that there may be other survivors from the tail section, we just haven’t found them yet.”

The plane may have broken apart in mid air, but that doesn’t mean that there’s no chance of survivors from the tail section of the plane. And he’s going to keep believing that there’s still other survivors of the plane out there and that Steve is among them. It’s the only thing he can do.

He looks down at the sand, letting a few tears slip down his face. He doesn’t particularly care if anyone sees his tears or not, so he makes no attempt to rid himself of them, or hide them.

Sighing, he shakes his head. “This isn’t supposed to be the end of the line for us.” He says, looking off towards the jungle. “Not yet.”


End file.
